Esther 4:1 When Mordecai
learned what had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes,
and went out into the city, crying with a loud and bitter wail.
Haman, the prime
minister of the land, hated the Jews, and Mordecai in particular. He could not stand the thought that Mordecai
did not bow down before him and acknowledge him worthy of being put on a
pedestal. He took advantage of the
situation and arranged to have all the Jews in the kingdom killed on a set day
in the following spring.
Mordecai went into
mourning for the Jews. I don’t believe
he was focused on himself nearly as much as he was for his fellow Jews. The Jews were the chosen people of God. They were the chosen vessel of God for the
coming Messiah and for bringing God to the world. Mordecai was absolutely devastated. He publicly showed his grief by the way he
dressed and crying out in anguish of heart.
We live in a world
where hatred of Christians is everywhere.
Daily there are people being executed for their faith in God. Wherever you go, there is a strong effort to
remove any discussion about Christ from the public arena. Whole societies have banned children of God from
the public arena and persecution is common.
When was the last
time we cried out in anguish of heart over the slaying of fellow
believers? When was the last time you
prayed for those who daily face the threat of death? When was the last time you pleaded with God
to stop the madness?
We say we love the
family of God, but do we really? We
somehow have gotten the idea that if we aren’t personally under fire or
affected by the persecutions, we don’t have a need to be bothered by it.
If it doesn’t affect us, can we honestly say
we love the Lord? Pray for those who put
their lives on the line for Christ. Pray
for those who are being publicly ostracized because of their faith. Things are only going to get worse in the
world and beseeching God on one another’s behalf is one of our greatest
testimonies of our love for the Lord.
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