Day 277: Such a Time as This (2024)
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Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit

to that story today. It is day 277. We're reading Nehemiah chapter 9, Esther chapter 4 and 14, and as well as Proverbs chapter 21 verses 9 through 12. As always, the Bible translation I am reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and receiving the daily episodes and daily updates. It's day 277. We're reading Nehemiah 9.

Esther 4 and 14, Proverbs chapter 21, verses 9 through 12. The book of Nehemiah chapter 9, public confession and worship. Now on the 24th day of this month, the sons of Israel were assembling with fasting and in sackcloth and with earth upon their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.

And they stood up in their place and read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day. For another fourth of it, they made confession and worshipped the Lord their God. Upon the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Buni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Shanani. And they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God.

then the levites jeshua kadmiel bani hashabniah shirabaiah hodiah shebaniah and pethahiah said stand up and bless the lord your god from everlasting to everlasting blessed be your glorious name which is exalted above all blessing and praise ezra's prayer to god and ezra said

You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. And you preserve all of them. And the host of heaven worships you.

You are the Lord, the God who chose Abram and brought him forth out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. And you found his heart faithful before you and made with him the covenant to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous.

And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land. For you knew that they acted insolently against our fathers. And you got yourself a name, as it is to this day. And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land. And you cast their pursuers into the depths as a stone into mighty waters.

By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. You came down upon Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments. And you made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them commandments and statutes, and a law by Moses your servant.

You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought forth water for them from the rock for their thirst. And you told them to go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them. But they and our fathers acted presumptuously, and stiffened their neck, and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey, and were not mindful of the wonders which you performed among them. But they stiffened their neck, and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt.

But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and did not forsake them. Even when they had made for themselves a molten calf and said, This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud which led them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night which lighted for them the way by which they should go.

You gave your good spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell. And you gave them kingdoms and peoples, and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.

You multiplied their descendants as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land which you had told their fathers to enter and possess.

so the descendants went in and possessed the land and you subdued before them the inhabitants of that land the canaanites and gave them into their hands with their kings and the peoples of the land that they might do with them as they would and they captured fortified cities and a rich land and took possession of houses full of all good things cisterns hewn out vineyards olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance

So they ate, and were filled and became fat, and delighted themselves in your great goodness. Nevertheless, they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, and cast your law behind their back, and killed your prophets who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer, and in the time of their suffering they cried to you, and you heard them from heaven.

And according to your great mercies, you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. But after they had rest, they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard them from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law.

Yet they acted presumptuously, and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your ordinances, by the observance of which a man shall live, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stiffened their neck, and would not obey. Many years you bore with them, and warned them by your spirit through your prophets, yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercies, you did not make an end of them or forsake them,

For you are a gracious and merciful God. Now therefore, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God, who keep covenant and mercy, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. Yet you have been just in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly.

Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or heeded your commandments and your warnings which you gave them. They did not serve you in their kingdom and in your great goodness which you gave them and in the large and rich land which you set before them, and they did not turn from their wicked works. Behold, we are slaves this day. In the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves.

and its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They have power also over our bodies and over our cattle at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. The Book of Esther, Chapter 4. Esther agrees to help the Jews. When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes and went out into the midst of the city wailing with a loud and bitter cry.

He went up to the entrance of the king's gate, for no one might enter the king's gate clothed with sackcloth. And in every province, wherever the king's command and his decree came, there was a great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes. When Esther's maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.

Then Esther called for Hathak, one of the king's eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate, and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.

Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people, remembering the days of your loneliness, when you were cared for by me because Haman, who is next to the king, spoke against us for our destruction. Beseech the Lord and speak to the king concerning us and deliver us from death. And Hathak went and told Esther what Mordecai had said.

Then Esther spoke to Hathak and gave him a message from Mordecai, saying, All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law. All alike are to be put to death except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter that he may live. And I have not been called to come into the king these thirty days. And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to return answer to Esther.

Think not that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day.

I and my maids will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish. Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him. Mordecai's Prayer Then Mordecai prayed to the Lord and said, O God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, blessed are you.

Oh Lord, Lord, King who rule over all things, for the universe is in your power and there is no one who can oppose you if it is your will to save Israel. For you have made heaven and earth and every wonderful thing under heaven. And you are Lord of all. And there is no one who can resist you. You know all things. You know, oh Lord, that I would have been willing to kiss the soles of Haman's feet to save Israel.

But I did not do this, lest I set the glory of man above the glory of God. I will not bow down to anyone but you, O Lord my God. And now, O Lord God and King, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, spare your people, for the eyes of our foes are upon us to annihilate us, and they desire to destroy your inheritance. Do not neglect your portion, which you redeemed for yourself out of the land of Egypt.

Hear my prayer, and have mercy upon your inheritance. Turn our mourning into feasting, that we may live and sing praise to your name, O Lord. Do not destroy the mouth of those who praise you. And all Israel cried out mightily, for their death was before their eyes. Chapter 14, Esther's Prayer

And Esther the queen, seized with deathly anxiety, fled to the Lord. She took off her splendid apparel and put on the garments of distress and mourning. And instead of costly perfumes, she covered her head with ashes and dung, and she utterly humbled her body. And every part that she loved to adorn she covered with her tangled hair. And she lay on the earth together with all her maidservants from morning until evening and said, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you.

Help me, who am alone and have no helper but you, for my danger is in my hand. Ever since I was born, I have heard in the tribe of my family that you, O Lord, took Israel out of all the nations and our fathers from among all their ancestors for an everlasting inheritance, and that you did for them all that you promised. And now we have sinned before you, and you have given us into the hands of our enemies, because we glorified their gods. You are righteous, O Lord.

And now they are not satisfied that we are in bitter slavery, but they have covenanted with their idols to abolish what your mouth has ordained and to destroy your inheritance, to stop the mouths of those who praise you and to quench your altar and the glory of your house, to open the mouths of the nations for the praise of vain idols and to magnify forever a mortal king. Oh Lord.

Do not surrender your scepter to what has no being, and do not let them mock at our downfall, but turn their plan against themselves and make an example of the man who began this against us. I have heard from the book of my ancestors that you liberate all those who are pleasing to you, O Lord, until the very end. And now assist me, who am all alone and have no one but you, O Lord my God. Come to my aid, for I am an orphan.

Remember, O Lord, make yourself known in this time of our affliction and give me courage, O King of the gods and master of all dominion. Put eloquent speech in my mouth before the lion and turn his heart to hate the man who is fighting against us so that there may be an end of him and those who agree with him. But save us from the hand of our enemies. Turn our mourning into gladness and our affliction into well-being.

you have knowledge of all things and you know that i hate the splendour of the wicked and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised and of any alien you know my necessity that i abhor the sign of my proud position which is upon my head on the days when i appear in public i abhor it like a menstruous rag and i do not wear it on the days when i am at leisure

And your servant has not eaten at Haman's table, and I have not honored the king's feast or drunk the wine of the libations. Your servant has had no joy since the day that I was brought here until now, except in you, O Lord God of Abraham, O God, whose might is over all. Hear the voice of the despairing and save us from the hands of evildoers, and save me from my fear. The book of Proverbs chapter 21 verses 9 through 12.

It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a contentious woman. The soul of the wicked desires evil. His neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes. When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise. When a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge. The righteous observes the house of the wicked. The wicked are cast down to ruin. Father in heaven, we thank you. We give you praise. You are the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Israel, the

You are the Lord of Lords. You are the King of Kings. You are the master of all. And we belong to you and we trust in you and we proclaim your goodness. Our mouths declare your goodness, Lord, in this world that you created. Help us to always praise you. Help us always to declare your goodness. Help us always to give you glory and honor and worship and to thank you every day for you, for you are God.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. There is a, well, the proverb, it's a really powerful day today. Gosh, Mordecai's prayer, Esther's prayer are amazing. But just, I think it's, sometimes there's humor in scripture as well. And Proverbs 21, it's humorous, it's true probably, but

he says it's better to live in a corner of the housetop. Like it's better to live outside on the corner of the roof than in the house with shared with a contentious woman. I would also, I'm obviously equal opportunity here to live in a house with a contentious person, contentious husband, a contentious wife, someone who just wants to argue for the sake of arguing. Yeah. I imagine that there'd be some peace in that little corner of your housetop rather than inside the house with the contentious person. So I,

It's funny. You guys, it's funny. If we can't laugh at it, then what's wrong with us? But back to the deep. Man, oh man, the deep. Holy smokes. Nehemiah and Ezra today. I just, gosh, there are so many times where I'm just like so moved, completely moved. Gosh. So we start with Ezra in Nehemiah. And what is it? What do we have? We have once again, the story, the story recapitulated in Ezra's own words. Remember, Ezra is...

He has already instructed the people. He's already instructed the people of their history. He's reminded them of what God has done. Because remember, yesterday and the day before, just yesterday, he read from the books of the Law of Moses. And you realize, okay, he instructed the people, reminding them of their story, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And now we actually get to hear what he says to the Lord, reminding God of the story. And there's something so powerful about this where he...

doesn't just tell the story. He says two things. Well, I mean, he says a lot of things, but two critical pieces. One is, God, this is what you've done. You have done all these good things. All the good things that happen in our lives, they're because of you. And that's so important for us to acknowledge, just the way in which we need to thank God every single day. Every good thing in your life, every good thing in my life, it's because of God. It's because of the Lord, either directly or indirectly. The second thing he does is he says that

There are times when things crashed and burned. There's times when things just completely fell all around us. And that was our fault. And I think that there's something so powerful. You know, whenever something goes wrong, we look to blame. I mean, I don't know if you do, but I think as human beings, we look to blame. Whenever something goes wrong, it's like, well, whose fault is this? We might be the last person we point to, last person we look at, unless some of us are kind of oriented that way, right? Some of us kind of think, well, it must've been me. It always must've been me, even if it is someone else and isn't you at all.

But there's a wisdom in being able to say, no, Lord, that was my fault. You had given me every opportunity and I didn't take it. And here's Ezra in his prayer saying, God, you did every good thing in our lives. Every bad thing that happened in our lives came from us because you allowed us to be delivered into the hands of our enemies. And then third is because you're faithful, not because we're good, but because you're faithful, please hear our prayer. And that's just so, gosh, so good.

So good. So continuing with the topic of prayers today, we have three prayers. We had Ezra's prayer in the book of Nehemiah. We have Mordecai's prayer and Esther's prayer here in Esther. But before we have Mordecai's prayer and Esther's prayer, there is this moment where Mordecai, right, he's fasting. And this is so good. I mean, you could blame Mordecai for the whole thing. He's the one who didn't bow down before Haman. So Mordecai, this is all your fault. And he even addresses this.

He says in his prayer, he says, you know all things, Lord. You know, O Lord, that I would have been willing to kiss the soles of Haman's feet to save Israel. So he's basically saying this wasn't a matter of pride. This wasn't me taking this on myself. He says, but I did not do this, lest I set the glory of man above the glory of God. I will not bow down to anyone but you, O Lord, my God. This is so good. You know, in a couple of days, we're going to be hitting the book of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. And there will be a number of times where the people of Israel are going to be tempted and actually...

very proactively tempted to abandon the laws of God for the laws of man. And here is Mordecai giving a very clear instruction with his words and how he's living. He's making it very clear. This wasn't a matter of pride. It wasn't that I won't bow down to Haman.

It was, I can't set the glory of man above the glory of God. So that's one thing. But here we have Mordecai coming before Queen Esther. I mean, obviously through the delegate, you know, the messenger, he explains the situation. Esther says, well, yeah, but like I mentioned yesterday, if you go into the king's presence without being summoned, there's one law. That law is you're killed unless he extends the gold scepter to you. And Mordecai responds in such a way. It's worth repeating.

Then Mordecai told them to return answer to Esther, So, first thing, yeah, just because you're in a privileged place right now does not mean that you will not suffer the fate of the Jews. Second thing he says,

So the second piece is God's going to deliver his people. God's not going to abandon his people. This people that he saved and saved and saved again, he's not going to abandon them. It's going to be some, it's either you or someone else. God is going to deliver us that way.

Third thing, and then he asks, and who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this. There is something so good. You know, we have a history in the 2000 year history of the Catholic Church, 2000 year history of Christianity, of people who are given positions of power, people who are given positions of wealth, people who are given positions of influence. And there was a moment

And in one of those particular moments, they had to be willing to give away the power to use the money, to use their influence at the risk of losing everything for the sake of Jesus, for the sake of others. And this is just, this is how it goes. This is what our call is.

is we look at our position. We look at our wealth. We look at our possessions. We look at our influence through the lens of how does God want me to use this? It could be that he brought me to this moment so I could divest myself of all of it. It could be that he brought me to this moment so I could risk all of it. It could be that God brought me to this moment so I could give all of this away. And this is just one of those things that we realize we are not owners of our lives. We are merely stewards of

And at every moment we get to ask, is it for this moment? Is it for such a time as this that the Lord God has brought me to this place? And that's just so powerful. So Esther, it touches her heart and she says, okay, here's the deal. Proclaim a fast because I'm going to fast. My maidservants are going to fast and then I'll go to the king. And I love her. She's so powerful. She's so brave, courageous. And she says, then I will go to the king, though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.

He's so courageous. Then Mordecai's prayer, so good, right? He's saying, I'm not doing this out of pride, but just so that Lord, you God will be glorified. And I love he says this. He says, hear my prayer and have mercy upon your inheritance. Turn our mourning into feasting that we may live and sing praise to your name. Oh Lord, do not destroy the mouth of those who praise you. Do not destroy the mouth of those who praise you. And you know, it's interesting because then Esther's prayer in chapter 14 is very similar.

where she talks about this, that sense of being able to say, God, if you destroy us all, then who will be left on earth to praise you? Not that God needs our praise, not at all. He doesn't need anything. But the nations, they don't even know who you are, God. And again, you don't need them to know, but they need to know. Gosh, here's Esther. Her prayer is not just words.

She takes off all of her fine robes and clothes and everything that made her quote unquote beautiful in the eyes of Ahasuerus, the eyes of the world. And she is also in sackcloth and ashes, dung even, it says. She puts in her hair dung. And Esther reveals her heart here. Once again, we talked about this a couple of days ago, but here's Esther who wins the Miss Persia

beauty contest and for quote-unquote winning this she gets to be the for lack of a better phrase sex slave of the king i mean when he calls she goes there and when he doesn't she just she lives in something of luxury but right she's a she's trapped in a golden cage at the request of this man and up till now you could say wow she she was made the queen this is incredible this is beautiful i mean if we have if you have a one particular view of this but here esther reveals her heart to

And she basically says, I hate this. Yeah, I was picked, but I picked for what? Picked to basically be the slave of this king. Not any kind of slave, but a sex slave of this king. And yes, I'm adorned in beautiful jewels and beautiful clothes, and I'm kept in this beautiful palace.

But you know, even God, you God, you know that unless I have to be in public, I don't even wear this crown. Unless I have to be in public, I don't wear this finery. Unless I have to, you know, play the part of the queen that I, she even says, I abhor this. I hate it. And we get this picture of her heart that she has not been privileged. She has been a victim this whole time. And yet this is so key. That reality hasn't embittered her.

That reality hasn't made her resentful. That reality hasn't made her powerless. In fact, her prayer is so powerful. Her prayer is so open and honest before God. So she's not bitter. She's not resentful. And she is not powerless. Even though, yes, in the king's palace, she's a real victim, but she is not a powerless victim. In this moment, she says, I will take my life into my hands. Remember, she says, if I perish, I perish, but I'm going to trust in you, God of Abraham.

Gosh, is it any mystery why people love Queen Esther? This woman who, for all those on the outside, life of privilege, but for her, she knows that it's a life of pain.

But she doesn't give in to bitterness or resentment for that pain, but she still trusts in God. She doesn't give in to feelings of powerless because she's a victim. She realizes that no matter what the situation, no matter where she is, she has power because she has the Lord. And we're going to see what happens next. But what a great day. What a gift of a day to be able to hear God's words in Nehemiah and Esther and Proverbs, even if we can be the contentious one in our family.

We pray for each other. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.