The couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was thrown into confusion. Esther 3:15 ESV ¶Chaos was emerging, and death was coming for Haman, and he was yet celebrating in his cups with the king. His narcissistic point of view, (how is this going effect me?) blinded him from seeing the full picture and the impact of his actions. Lacking in empathy, and unable to see things from the point of view of another, unable to anticipate likely responses, he acted impulsively. We do not have full understanding of other people, or even of ourselves. Only God does, and, astoundingly, His response to our deep-down true selves is love. The decoration (chashaq, filleting, see Dtr. 7:7) of His love is to adorn us with the wisdom, insight, patience, and longsuffering to begin to love as He loves.

"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:12‭, ‬19‭-‬20 ESV ¶We are given these bodies, the body with which I now write these words, in order that we might glorify the Lord. We can seek to satisfy the flesh, or we can master the flesh. It depends on whom you would serve. If you choose to serve yourself, you choose a world devoid of meaning and purpose. If you serve God, your purpose is to glorify Him, and for this he gives us bodies. He is gracious enough to light that path for us, and, if we confess our sins, He is continually faithful and just to forgive sin, and to cleanse us, in the flesh, from all unrighteousness.

And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:3‭-‬5 ESV A powerful rhetorician can by his words alone hold sway over anyone who listens. Paul was such a speaker. He knew his speaking ability was a gift of God that could be misused. He will go on to tell us that wondrous speech in the tongues of men, without love, is nothing. His desire that no one but God get glory from his ministry, and that faith not rest on the wisdom of men, led him on to that power, grounded in weakness, to boldly go with Christ through the fellowship of his sufferings, that he might know Him, that we might know Him.

O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God! For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads. They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones. They say, "Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!" Psalm 83:1‭-‬4 ESV This type of genocidal hatred is still present among some in our land, manifesting in their unwillingness to share their living space with people outside their own race and tribe. But God gives us His name, the name above every name, and shares it with men from every tongue and tribe and kindred and nation. When we claim Him, when we call upon Him, we find ourselves amidst that throng, without any distinction, not only loving Him, but loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved! You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself. But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself! Restore us, O Lord God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved! Psalm 80:7‭-‬8‭, ‬12‭, ‬14‭-‬15‭, ‬17‭, ‬19 ESV ¶The cry of a people in need of deliverance, not so much from their sin as from their persecution, of not so much from the wrongs that they have done as from the wrongs being done to them, with all the potential that follows for PTSD with its fear, anger, and avoidance. What is needed is a voice, a prayer, a thoughtful call for peaceful ...

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Romans 14:17‭-‬19 ESV   ¶God is served, Christ is lifted up, not in the ways we decide to live out our individual moral opinions, but in how faithfully we as recovering sinners remain connected to each other. The conviction that matters is that we should love each other. We think of a person as articulate if he always has the right words to say, but an articulation is a connection. It is what every bone supplies to its neighbor. The Gospel is manifested in the power of the Body of Christ to remain one in love. Connections based on shared opinions are weak. A single disagreement can blow them asunder, but the body held together by the Spirit, bound together by what every joint supplies, will grow, with a growth...

So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work. When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. Nehemiah 4:6‭, ‬15‭, ‬21 ESV ¶A day of destruction is upon us, cities hollowed out by fire and riot. But there will come a time to build. The walls are already half-built. For Jerusalem under Nehemiah, two things needed to happen. People needed to return to their own work, taking care of their own business, creating safe places for their families to grow and thrive. Then they needed to work with and for their neighbors, within their own personal spheres of influence, to rebuild their city. Believers, our prophetic work is to build a New City, built on respect for those of every tribe and tongue and kindred and nation, on...

Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. Exodus 23:20‭-‬21 KJV ¶God's promise to send angels (makahkim, messengers) was never withdrawn. He sent prophets, who would come to remind God's people unswervingly of their covenant with Him. For example, Isaiah was appointed a prophet in a vision of the throne of God. There, touched by an angelic being with a live coal on his lips, he was cleansed of his sin, and sent forth as God's messenger (malak, angel). Prophets were not priests. They did not come offering atonement and forgiveness, but they came with guidance, to keep God's people on their way, to their promised rest. Now, oh, but now, we have been given the Son, who did what neither prophet not priest alone could do. He is much superior to angels, in that He has p...