The scripture for today, April 14 (4/14), is Esther 4:14b as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Today’s scripture is about a reluctant young lady who won a beauty contest and was chosen to be the queen of Persia. Time has passed, and now a command has just gone out to kill all Jews. Queen Esther was a Jewess but had not told anyone at the royal court. She could continue to hide her nationality and let all her people die, or she could intervene with the king. She was the only Jew the king would have listened to. So she took the chance that she, too, would be killed, and spoke on behalf of her people. They were saved.
There are always situations in life in which you are the only one who can accomplish something very needed. Perhaps you are the only adult standing near a strange child who is about to run out into a busy road. Perhaps you are tall and a short person needs to reach something at the store. Perhaps you know a particular language and others around you need you to explain something to them. Perhaps someone called a wrong number on the telephone and reached you instead.
As we go through life, there are situations in which you are the only one who can handle them. Do you? Do you watch for those situations, or do you walk around in your own little world?
Listen! It’s the silent cries of people only you can help. Do you hear them?
“Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now, these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.”
The scripture for today, August 7 (8/7), is Hosea 8:7 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.”
“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.”
“Brothers, pray for us.”
“Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.”
“Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?”
“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.”