Psalm 73 - “For I envied the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”  (Psalm 73:3)

“When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”  (vv. 16-17)

“Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.  But as for me, it is good to be near God.  I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.”  (Psalm 73:27-28)

In this Psalm, God talks about the “pure in heart,” as well as the “arrogant” and the “wicked.”  To man, the wicked may seem to have no troubles.  Those who are faithful feel that they have many struggles.  Sometimes this seems unfair, even to believers.

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Esther 3:1 – “After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles.”

Haman the Agagite was the main enemy of God’s people in the book of Esther.  He was apparently a descendent of Agag, an Amalekite king.  Hebrew scholars since ancient times have identified Haman with the Agag in 1 Samuel 15.  King Saul lost his kingship because he spared Agag’s life instead of following God’s instructions.

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Esther 6:6-10 – When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?” Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?”

So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head.”

We see here a picture of the mentality of many religious leaders – self-promotion and seeking glory, and being oblivious to the Lord’s purposes.  Men seek to be elevated or have control over others.  The Lord carries out his project without glorifying man or yielding control to any human being.

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Esther 3:2-5 – “All the royal officials at the king’s gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor. Then the royal officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, ‘Why do you disobey the king’s command?’ Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai’s behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged.”

Esther is the only book in the Bible that never mentions God. God is certainly part of the story – the main characters fast and pray, and the answers to their prayers are miraculous. Esther and her relative Mordecai were deeply spiritual, and the Persian royalty at this time were zealous Zoroastrians, who believed in one true God (similar to the Jews) rather than pagan idols. Yet the Bible manages to recount the entire story without mentioning God by name even once.  One reason for this unusual omission is that most of the story focuses on one particular character’s perspective – that of Haman, a court official.

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1 Corinthians 13:4 – “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.”

Love wishes the best for the other person, and delights in seeing the other person succeed and prosper. Envy does the opposite. Christian love wants to see God glorified through everyone. The love described in 1 Corinthians 13 is not just a feeling or emotion. The original Greek uses a different noun here than the word for emotional or sentimental love. The love described here is a choice that we make, a character trait that we consciously cultivate in ourselves.

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“For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” - Jude 1:4

Many believers today expect a great End-Times revival where large portions of the world’s population convert to evangelical Christianity.  Many Christian books and preachers popularized this view.  It is true that the Bible describes a special outpouring and operation of the Holy Spirit for the faithful church immediately before the Rapture, but there is nothing in Scripture to indicate that that there will be an easy, massive harvest in our time.  Jesus told the disciples that the harvest was plentiful in their day (Matthew 9:37) , but then told them that in the Last Days, the love of most would grow cold because of the increase in wickedness (Matthew 24:12).

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Psalm 91:1 – “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”

The Hebrew word here in Psalm 91:1 is Elyon, one of the Old Testament names for God. This name of God emphasizes his transcendence, that He is high above the world, exalted in the heavens. Sometimes new believers ask, “Is God in heaven, on a throne, or is He all around me wherever I go?” The answer, of course, is BOTH. This verse highlights this paradox, by using the name for God that refers to Him being in heaven on the throne in the first half, and the name that connotes God’s powerful working in the world around us in the second part.

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