Esther 2:17 17 Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
I’m finding the book of Esther a little difficult. There are so many things we need to watch out for and we have to be cautious of our interpretation. When I first underlined this scripture I was struck by how Esther was able to win the heart of the king by basically being obedient. My first inclination is to remember that if we are obedient to Christ we would be amazed at what can happen through us. But there are problems, the king is not Christ, he doesn’t display a hint of Christ like behavior. Also there is the concern that my words could be used to support submissive behavior in women just for the fact that they are women, which I don’t agree with. What I learned here was actually surprising to me; it was a reminder of even if a passage speaks to me in a certain way I need to be cautious in how I speak about it. We need to support one another when we come to narrative passages and use them to build up the community and create dialogue about some of the problems within interpretation. Maybe that is the task of Esther, to remind us of community and the importance of that community.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Job 23:11-12
Job 23:11-12 11 My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. 12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.
In the middle of all of this mourning and complaining comes this statement. This verse reminded me of something really important. That is no matter how good you think you are, how well you do your devotions or how often you attend worship services bad things still happen. Now I know that sounds like a no brained comment, but over the last 30 plus years the Health and Wealth Gospel movement have basically claimed if you don’t do anything wrong God will reward you. It’s amazing in all my dealings with Health and Wealth people I’ve never heard them mention Job. Things happen. And while we need to depend upon God we need to do his commandments our devotions the best we can while we are in the problem.
In the middle of all of this mourning and complaining comes this statement. This verse reminded me of something really important. That is no matter how good you think you are, how well you do your devotions or how often you attend worship services bad things still happen. Now I know that sounds like a no brained comment, but over the last 30 plus years the Health and Wealth Gospel movement have basically claimed if you don’t do anything wrong God will reward you. It’s amazing in all my dealings with Health and Wealth people I’ve never heard them mention Job. Things happen. And while we need to depend upon God we need to do his commandments our devotions the best we can while we are in the problem.
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