Esther Reading Plan – W9D4
Check out all the previous Esther readings here.
Esther Reading Plan | Week 9 | Day 4
Prayer
As you begin your time with God, where you are sitting or standing, put out your hands with your palm facing up. Acknowledge before God that you need His wisdom and strength, and ask Him to fill you with that today.
Bible Reading: Micah 6:6-8
Read these verses three times slowly.
With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Reflection & Questions
We’ve read this week of Haman’s demise when justice came knocking on his door. Throughout the story so far, he had put himself before everyone else. He allowed his pride to get the better of him and it led to oppression, spitefulness and pure evil. Ultimately, he architected an evil action (the extermination of the Jews) and he thought he had gotten away with it.
Haman is a great example of what not to do. In our reading today, Micah makes it clear: “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Instead of pride, a humble walk with God. Instead of spitefulness, mercy. Instead of oppression, justice. Humility, mercy and justice. Three simple values to live by. In fact, when we go wrong in life can probably be drawn back to missing the mark in one of these three areas.
- What do you think it means to walk humbly with God? What’s a next step for you in walking humbly with God?
- Think about last week. Was there a situation where you missed the mark? Was it because of a lack of humility, mercy or justice? How would you handle it differently next time?
Prayer
Pray in response to today’s reading.
Worship Song
You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:
Prepare to Meet with Jesus
Find a quiet place to read and pray. Make sure there are no devices around that will distract you. Pray and ask God to help you concentrate. Ask Him to help you understand what you read.
Bible Reading: Esther 7:7b-8a
Read these verses three times slowly.
But Haman realized that the king had already decided what he was going to do to him. So he stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life. The king returned from the palace garden to the dinner hall. Just then he saw Haman falling on the couch where Esther was lying.The king shouted, “Will he even treat the queen like this? Will he harm her while she’s right here with me in the palace?”
Reflection & Questions
Well Haman sure didn’t make things better for himself, did he? He realized that the Queen had more power than he thought and wanted to beg her for his life but when the King walked in, all he saw was Haman trying to hurt her.
Sometimes we get ourselves into tough situations that we just don’t know how to get out of. If we handle it by ourselves, we might be in deeper trouble than we started out in! For example, you were throwing a ball in the house and a picture frame was knocked to the ground and broken. You could blame it on your crazy dog, right? But parents usually have a way of finding out the truth and when they do, not only will you be disciplined for throwing a ball in the house, but for lying too!
It’s always good to ask for help from a trusted adult and also from God so that you can handle troublesome situations in the right way.
- Have you done something wrong and then, to hide it, lied about it? How did that make you feel?
- Who is someone that you can talk to when you are in trouble?
Pray
Thank God for being so wise. Ask him to help you make good decisions when you get into troublesome situations. Thank him for always being there for you to help you.
Check out more Bible Reading Plans here.
Questions?
Ed Applegate