Oh hope, where doth thou lie?

Are you afraid yet?

Random shootings.
Legal threats to homes-schooling.
Legal threats to Christianity.
Obama's pledge to dis-arm us nuclearly (is that a word?).
Obama's health care Plan B.

I have lots of reasons to be afraid. I think of India (our soon-to-be daughter) and wonder at the world she will grow up in. I imagine the worst a lot of the time. Sometimes I get quite afraid.

Then I heard David (Stockton) talk about the book of Esther. He focused on chapter 4 last night. He explained how Mordecai, the Jew who had been exiled from his homeland and isolated when his cousin moved into the palace, received notice that his days to life were numbered--literally.

"Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and little children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. "

Hmm....I sit around and ponder the worst while Mordecai literally faced the worst. The end. Death. By legislation, royal edict.

First he responded with despair--as I would. Then, he takes it a step further and turns to prayer and fasting. As David said, when you encounter the kind of knot that just cannot be undone, prayer and fasting often undo it. After praying and fasting, he not only realizes God's plan, but speaks hope boldly.

In encouraging Esther to risk her life for her people, he boldly adds, "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place."

WHAT?! Another place?! Man, if I were him, Esther would be my only hope.

Ah, but Mordecai find hope outside of man. He found it in the Lord.

Here is what the Lord promises (and He wrote them down for us in case we forget):

1. He has promised to supply every need we have. The Bible says: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Phillipians 4:19.
   
2. God has promised that His grace is sufficient for us. (II Corinthians 12:9).
   
3. God has promised that His children will not be overtaken with temptation. Instead, He assures us that a way of escape will be provided. This promise is recorded in I Corinthians 10:13. Jude wrote: "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present your faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude v 24). Darius, King of the Medes, said to Daniel, "Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee" (Daniel 6:16).
   
4. God has promised us victory over death. He first resurrected Jesus by way of assuring our resurrection. Peter said: "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses" (Acts 2:32). Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:3,4). Later on he adds: "but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 15:57).
5. God has promised that all things work together for good to those who love and serve Him faithfully (Romans 8:28).
   
6. God has promised that those who believe in Jesus and are baptized for the forgiveness of sins will be saved. (Read Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38).
7. God has promised His people eternal life (John 10:27,28).
   

And my personal favorite, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Could I face a literal death threat with hope? Not if I counted in man. But I am very encouraged by Mordecai's submission to God's plan.

And how did Mordecai's story end?

"King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores. And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai to which the king had raised him, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia? Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews."

David was quick to point out that the name Mordecai means literally, "little man." He was a nobody. A nothing. Until he was faced with despair.