On Friday at Saar Fellowship we ended the year by looking at the book of Esther and ahead to 2022.
You can catch the full message here, and below is part of the sermon: a great to-do for 2022!
“Reading this chapter, this story, thinking about the new year to come, it’s so easy to make ourselves Esther, isn’t it?
You are here, you are the chosen one, 2022 is going to be your time…your year.
You, like Esther, need to gather support…you need to represent and rescue yourself from the state of the world in 2022, and those around you, from what is troubling them.
It’s so easy to make ourselves Esther, isn’t it?
This is me, this is my time, 2022 is going to be my year.
Did you say that in 2021?
Did you say that in 2020?
If we’ve learnt anything from 2020 and 2021 it’s that nobody on earth knows what 2022 will bring, and that you and me, despite all our efforts, aren’t going to affect that in any meaningful way. It will be what it will be. We are not in control. We are not the ultimate directors of our own destiny. If you’re still battling to be the master of your own fate, the captain of your own soul, then please, stop. Stop trying. Your biggest to do in 2022 will be to not be those things.
But, reading this, again, it’s so easy to make ourselves Esther in our minds, isn’t it?
The problem with this kind of thinking, this kind of approach to the Bible, is that Jesus didn’t say that all the Scriptures bear witness to you and are about, you.
All the Scriptures don’t testify to, don’t talk about, you.
We are not Esther in this story, but we are in this story.
We are the people that need redeeming and saving.
An enemy has insidiously maligned and manipulated the authority of the Sovereign and as a result we are heading towards death.
If left unchecked, unresolved, ignored, un-dealt with, “I’ll get to that when I’m on my deathbed”…the sin in your life is taking you the way of God’s people here in Esther: death, separation from life.
We are not Esther in this story, but we are in the story.
We are living out this story in the here and now, and will continue to do so in 2022.
You don’t need to be a bold and a better Esther for 2022.
2022 is not going to be your year to be an Esther for yourself and those around you and be the positive force needed to change lives.
That’s not you.
The story of Esther isn’t pointing to and teaching about you.
You don’t need to be a bold and a better Esther, bececase
Jesus already is.
Jesus is a bolder and better, the true, Esther.
He defeated a seemingly undefeatable situation.
He entered into the situation and saves His people.
He entered into the battle even though it seemed like it would claim His life.
He saved God’s people from death.
He saved you from impending death who believe.
Friends, you don’t need to be Esther in this story because you are the redeemed in this story. You are the saved. You are the people snatched from death to life through the person and work of Jesus.
So let us not work towards being a better Esther, an Esther for 2022. Let us rest in the true and better Esther, the true and better Redeemer and Rescuer, let us rest in Jesus.
There’s your single to-do for 2022.
If you would like to read a devotional through Esther, chapter by chapter try this, Esther: Day by Day.
Pick up a copy on Amazon here!
James Travis 