Day 120: February 2, 2026 – Esther 1-7

Who doesn’t love the book of Esther and its lessons that carry throughout the generations? I can’t help but think of how Haman so closely reflects the actions that were taken by Nazi Germany as they tried to carry out the orders that were put out there across the kingdom of the King Ahasuerus. I have always believed that the more we forget history, the more we are condemned to repeat it, especially, if not only, the evil things that have been committed. That is true today as well. We are condemned to repeat the evils of history as individuals, as a nation, even as a church, if we forget how God has called for righteousness to be pursued. We simply do not pursue righteousness, and as a result we will be doomed to make the same mistakes that those who went before us made.

The line that Mordecai tells Esther that is often repeated, “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴ For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” This is a line that we can take and apply to our own lives. We are not able to escape from what is required from us, but God is fully capable of using someone else in our place to carry out God’s plans and purposes.