Gary Gleans

The revelation of sin is a scary thing.  Haman has been blinded by his pride and hatred to the point that he is not able to see the potential consequences of his sin so he presses on and on in his sinful actions with little or no perception of the danger he is facing.  Once his sin is exposed; suddenly everything become clear and he can see how foolish he has been but it is too late.  The truth is that all of us have a hard time seeing the consequences of our sin or even being able to perceive that we are living in a sinful manner.  The body of Christ should exercise a key function in our lives by alerting us to the reality of our sin and warning us of the consequences of our actions.  One day when we stand before Christ, our sins will be evident as well as their consequences.  We must be faithful in helping one another see our sins. HAMAN’S PLOT IS EXPOSED: Finally Esther is ready to reveal her request to the king.  He has offered her half of the kingdom but she simply asks for h

Sleepless nights are sometimes from the Lord.  The king certainly had his sleep taken away by the Lord as a part of preparing his heart for what Esther would reveal to him that night.  We can clearly see God at work in the heart of this king in order to make Esther’s communication fall on open ears.  None of the events of the past few days have been incidental or coincidence.  Clearly, God is answering the prayers of His people and He is accomplishing His will.  God’s sovereignty has been very evident throughout the entire book of Esther.  The truth of God’s sovereignty should be of immense comfort to every one of us.  No matter how difficult our circumstance may seem, we can rest easily in the God who controls the sleep of kings. THE KING IS REMINDED OF MORDECAI’S BRAVERY: As they king lay awake that night he asked for the chronicles of his kingdom to be read.  The reader just happens to read about the time that Mordecai had risked his own life to save the king’s life buy reveali

Courage is a very difficult virtue to muster in the face of death.  However, Esther, after three days of prayer and fasting, puts on her royal robes and very humbly approaches the king.  Her cause is just but the danger is very real.  Her life is at stake no matter what happens but she knows that it is very unlikely that she would be targeted by Haman’s diabolic plan.  She considers the lives of her fellow countrymen to be more precious than her own and puts her life at risk in order to attempt to save them.  The world continues to desperately need courageous and selfless people who are willing to sacrifice their own lives in order to save the lives of others. ESTHER IS PATIENT IN HER EFFORTS TO SAVE: I try to imagine myself in Esther’s place, I think that I would have likely run right into the throne room and can almost see myself blurting out: “what kind of a stupid law did you pass now?”  Esther is obviously wiser than I am.  She not only spends three days fasting and praying b

The message of death that was sent out by Haman in the king’s name was met with great mourning and lament on the part of Mordecai and the many other Jews spread throughout the kingdom.  If there were ever a time to weep, this was it.  Once again, the nation of Israel faced the threat of extermination as Satan used his instrument, Haman, in order to bring about the destruction of the people.  Mordecai reacted as we would expect him to only he went to the gate of the king so that those inside the palace, especially Esther, would hear of his condition.  Mourning is the correct response in this situation as Mordecai sought to call out to the Lord to have mercy on His people.  In times of despair we must always call out to the Lord.  He truly is the only source of hope that we have. MORDECAI ASKS ESTHER TO PLEAD TO THE KING: Once Mordecai was able to get Esther’s attention, he simply asked her to go into the king and plead to him on behalf of herself and her people.  This sounds like a

Throughout the history of the nation of Israel there have been numerous attempts to destroy them.  From the time Abraham was called; it seems that he and his descendants have been in the cross-hairs of Satan.  Pharaoh tried to exterminate the people while they were enslaved in Egypt.  Nation after nation made war with Israel as they walked in the wilderness and then again after they were established in the Promised Land.  Now that they are in captivity Haman is the latest to make an attempt to destroy the Jewish people.  However, like Pharaoh before him and Hitler after him, Haman was under the sovereignty of God and would not be allowed to fulfill his wicked plan.  Evil men may plot against the children of God but the Lord will always prevail. HAMAN BECOMES PRIDEFUL IN HIS PROMOTION: The King of Persian sees fit to promote Haman above all the other officials in his kingdom.  We are not sure what Haman did to deserve such and honor but he enjoyed his new found fame very much.  Par

This may have been the world’s first beauty pageant.  Since the king had banished the queen, the search for a new queen began and so the king’s servants went to gather the fairest in the land to see who would become the new queen.  Esther obviously is chosen as the new queen of the land because of her outward as well as her inward beauty.  We learn several important things about this beautiful young lady and how God forged her character.  As we look at Esther I think all young women can learn some “beauty secrets” from her and that all young men can learn some important qualities for which to look as they seek for a wife. ESTHER’S CHARACTER WAS FORMED THROUGH SUFFERING: Esther had been born in captivity which in and of itself lends itself to suffering.  However, beyond the difficulties of captivity, Esther is also an orphan as she lost both of her parents to death.  We do not know the circumstances of their death but we know that she was being raised by and uncle who took her into

As we move from the book of Nehemiah to Esther we rewind in time and are given some insight to the lives of the children of Israel who were in captivity in Persia.  They had been taken captive by Babylon but now the Medes and the Persians had conquered Babylon so they are now reigning over the land and the Israelites in captivity.  The story in Esther occurs prior to Ezra returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and Nehemiah returning to build the wall in Jerusalem but after Zurubbabel had led the first group of the people back from exile to start construction of the temple.  It is very likely that the events of Esther help to explain why the Persian kings were so accommodating to the children of Israel.  God’s sovereignty is clearly on display as He moves behind the scenes in history to accomplish His will.  This first chapter simply provides a backdrop to a very fascinating story that reads like a script to a motion picture. THE KING AND QUEEN HAVE BANQUETS: The king and que

Maintenance is one of the hardest parts of our spiritual walk.  We are often very motivated to grow in certain circumstances of our lives and by God’s grace we experience progress in our lives.  However, with the passing of time it is easy for us to slip back into old habits, start to neglect our commitments to the Lord and little by little we find ourselves drifting away from the Lord.  When the children of Israel first returned from exile and were exposed to the Scripture they were sensitive to the Lord, made huge changes in their lives and commitments to follow the Word of God.  They worked very hard to build the wall and establish their new homes as well as implement the care of the temple, sacrifices and spiritual leadership.  Unfortunately, with the passing of time they began to tolerate certain sinful practices and were allowing these commitments to wane.  This is where strong leadership was necessary to recognize the problem and have the courage to confront the problems head o

The Lord is delighted by the worship of His people and celebrations are a great time to promote the worship of the Lord.  There are events in our lives that are worthy of great celebration and the completion of the wall was a very good reason to celebrate.  However, we must be careful that our celebrations are not simply parties that we enjoy and commemorate our accomplishments.  God calls us to reflect upon what He has done and to celebrate Him and not ourselves.  We must be careful to make sure that He is in the center of all of our celebrations and that He is the only focus of our worship. THE LEVITES EACH HAD THEIR OWN DESIGNATOIN: Throughout the history of Israel, the Levites were separated for the purpose of praising the Lord with song and instruments and promoting the worship of the Lord in the midst of the people.  Nehemiah made sure that the Levites had the time, freedom and the instruments necessary to perform these tasks before the Lord.  Each individual member had his

It is a wonderful thing to live in a position in which we must trust the Lord.  This situation stretches us our faith and builds our confidence in the power and provision of the Lord.  When the children of Israel returned to the land from exile, they started by building a temple in order to establish their worship.  Then they rebuilt the wall around the city to increase the security of the city and protect the temple as well as the people who lived within the city limits.  However, the majority of the people lived outside of the city walls.  In fact the people desired to live outside of the city on the lands that had been allotted to their families so that they could grow their own crops, raise their own food and be able to provide for their families.  However, it was vital to have people living within the city in order to care for the temple and continue the rebuilding process. SOME PEOPLE WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR WORSHIP: The opportunity to live within the city was open to the quali

Commitments are an important part of our spiritual growth and our walk with the Lord.  The natural outflow of our study of God’s Word should involve the making of commitments before the Lord to make changes in our lives that will reflect the teachings of Scripture.  This is what the children of Israel who returned from exile did when they returned to the land and were exposed to the Scripture.  Too often we read the Word of God simply for the purpose of information and not for the purpose of transformation.  We must be diligent students of God’s Word and seek to understand it fully but all of our studies and understanding will only create pride in our hearts if we do not commit ourselves to the process of change that the Word of God requires of our lives. GOD REMEMBERS THOSE WHO ARE COMMITTED TO HIM: There is a long list of names of the people who wrote and signed the covenant that the leaders of the people of Israel were making to God.  All of their names are recorded forever in

There is a stark contrast between the faithfulness of God and the faithfulness of God’s people.  As the returns from the exile are exposed to the Word of God and the history of their nation, it becomes very clear to them that they are a part of a very sinful nation that deserved the exile under which they are currently suffering.  They respond to this information by recognizing their sin and by rehearsing God’s faithfulness.  When we become aware of our sin as we compare ourselves to the Lord and His standard the result should be that we fall on our faces before the Lord and worship Him.  God has certainly provided all that we need to live our lives in a way that pleases Him and is consistent with the Scriptures.  When we fail to do so, we must be quick to recognize that fact and then turn from our sin to worship God and God alone. THE PEOPLE RECOGNIZE THEIR FAILURES: When the people compared the law of the Lord with the history of their people; they had no choice but to recognize

The Word of God has an impact on those who are exposed to the truth of Scripture.  Now that the wall was built and the people were beginning to be established in Jerusalem once again, it was vital that they receive the instruction of the Word of God.  Men simply do not know how to relate to God or be obedient to Him without the instruction of God’s Word.  Man’s heart is deceitful and will naturally sin but when it is exposed to the Word of God that heart can be convicted of sin, converted from sin and convinced to walk in a manner that is pleasing to God.  One of Satan’s greatest tactics to destroy the work of God is to keep people in ignorance of the Word of God.  We are so blessed to have it so readily available to us.  We must not neglect God’s Word and must make it the purpose of our lives to make sure that every person on the face of the earth has access to God’s Word. THE READING OF GOD’S WORD: Ezra and the religious leaders gathered in the open streets to read the Word of G

Details are important to the Lord; so much so that He recorded many details in Scripture that will remain for all of eternity.  God wanted the establishment of the new nation of Israel to be done in and orderly fashion and He wanted a clear record of who had returned to be part of this nation as well as from where they had come.  We may not fully understand the reasons behind this record, but it likely has something to do with maintaining tribal identity within the nation.  One thing that we can rest assured of is that God is very concerned with the details of our lives and has them recorded within His knowledge for all of eternity. NEHEMIAH DELEGATES AUTHORITY: Once the wall was finished, Nehemiah began to delegate authority to godly men who he could trust to carry out the work and help keep the people safe.  The wall was complete, but the number of people within the city were few and their homes had not yet been rebuilt.  Nehemiah instructed the rulers to make sure that the gate

Threats and rumors are to be expected when we are striving to please the Lord and being productive in the work that He would have us to accomplish.  As the wall neared completion the people of the region that were opposed to Israel and Nehemiah began to get desperate.  They had tried earlier to prevent the construction of the wall but they had been unsuccessful.  Now their only hope was to attack their leader, Nehemiah, in hopes that once he was out of the way they could overtake the city once again and leave it in destruction.  In Portuguese we have an expression that says: “trees that are bearing fruit should expect to have rocks thrown at them.”  We often think that if we are bearing fruit for the Lord that we will enjoy tranquility in our lives that is rarely the case.  God has promised to provide peace in the midst of the storms of life but not the absence of storms. NEHEMIAH REFUSES TO BE DISCOURAGED BY THE THREATS OF OUTSIDERS: The enemies of Israel that had been trying to

Exploitation of others who are less fortunate is one of the ugliest traits that men can display.  Yet, it seems to be so common throughout the history of the world and the children of Israel who returned from exile were no exception.  Some of the people who returned from exile were men of nobility who had apparently achieved a certain degree of wealth while they were in captivity.  Others simply left all they had behind and were starting over in their new land but they had no reserves available to them.  When a famine hit the land, these poor people had no way to support themselves accept by borrowing money and selling their property to those who had reserves.  It was a classic case of the rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer.  Nehemiah stood in stark contrast to this type of exploitation in his leadership. NEHEMIAH CONFRONTED THE RICH FOR EXPLOITING THE POOR: When the plight of the poor people came to Nehemiah’s attention he became angry and immediately confronted th

Fear is a powerful weapon that Satan will often use to discourage those who strive to serve to Lord.  We live in a sin cursed world with sinful people so it is only to be expected that we will face trials and outright attacks from the enemies of the Lord.  We must constantly remind ourselves that the Lord is greater than our fears and that He is stronger than our enemies.  The greatest weapon that we have to fight off the enemy of fear is our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  His power is far greater than any who oppose His work.  As long as we are obeying and trusting Him we can be confident that He will empower us to be victorious. ISRAEL’S ENEMIES USED RIDICULE AND VIOLENCE TO PROMOTE FEAR: When the people of the region saw that the wall was being rebuilt, they started off by making fun of their efforts.  They did not think that it was possible for them to be able to rebuild the wall.  The rubble from the old wall was so great that the job looked impossible to do.  They made fun

When a task seems impossible to accomplish, there is really nothing else to do accept “dive in” and get to work at accomplishing the task that God has set before us.  Nehemiah had revealed to the people what the Lord had laid on his heart and how the king had not only approved of the project but had agreed to fund it.  That was all good news, but there was still a huge job that needed to be done.  Planning and preparation are important steps to the success of any task, but there comes a time when we must roll up our sleeves and get to work. THE TASK REQUIRED COORDINATION: There was a clear organization that sent different groups of people to different places along the length of the wall.  Everyone assumed the responsibility of building the various sections of the wall as well as the different gates in the wall.  Someone had to coordinate who would go where and that seems to have been pulled off without a problem.  The work went forward in an organized fashion as each group focused

Leadership is vital to the accomplishment of any task.  Availability is one of the key prerequisites to effective leadership.  Nehemiah is an excellent example of leadership because he not only cared about his people enough to inquire about their well-being and intercede before the Lord on their behalf; he also was available to do something about it.  When we bring something before the Lord in prayer, we must always be willing to take action in order to do something about it.  It is often said that “prayer changes things.”  I believe that statement is true, however, I think “prayer changes us,” may be an even more accurate statement.  It becomes clear that as Nehemiah prays about the situation in Jerusalem; God begins to move in Nehemiah’s own heart to take an active part in answering his own prayers.  I believe that if the body of Christ would pray more fervently for missions that we would not have such a great lack of missionaries. NEHEMIAH INSTRUCTS THE KING: Once Nehemiah has

God calls us care about one another and be concerned with others more than we are concerned about ourselves.  It is easy for us to get caught up in our own lives and simply focus on our own circumstances and responsibilities.  God has called us to love Him and to demonstrate our live for Him by loving others.  Our sinful nature is egotistical and only wants to focus on and be concerned about ourselves.  Nehemiah set a good example of caring for others and we would do well to follow in His steps. NEHEMIAH INQUIRES ABOUT THE PEOPLE IN JUDAH: The first indication that we have about Nehemiah’s heart for the people in Judah is that he demonstrates his preoccupation for them by simply asking for information about them.  We live in an information age where we have information available to us about the entire world.  Our problem is that we are so self-absorbed with our own problems that we have very little time or energy to dedicate to finding out about the needs of others.  Too often, we

Sin always makes things complicated.  In the case of intermarriage that the exiles had practiced it is very difficult to see a solution that would truly resolve the situation.  The idolatry that these foreign wives brought to the nation was so dangerous that it was decided that the only solution was to put these foreign wives and their children away by sending them back to their homes.  Marriage is supposed to be an illustration of divine love and faithfulness so the ending of a marriage is detestable to God.  Once the people had broken the Law and married outside of their faith, there was really no way to make things right again.  Sin is like that.  It always paints itself as the color of liberty but it always leads to slavery.  The simplest solution to sin is simply to avoid it in the first place. EZRA CALLS OUT TO GOD: In the face of this tragic sin Ezra is clearly conflicted as to what should be done so he calls out to the Lord and laments the sins of the people before the Lor

It is a very sad and maddening reality when God’s people repeat the same sinful practices over and over again.  The people had just returned from exile in order to build the temple and restore the city.  They had been sent into exile because of their idolatry and rebellion.  Now, after seventy years of punishment they come back to the land and begin down the same path of rebellion that got them sent into exile in the first place.  We look at this and have a hard time believing that the people could be this blind and hard hearted and yet we often do the very same thing.  How many times to we repeat the same sinful behavior over and over again?  How often do we vow that we will abandon an ungodly attitude and then find ourselves thinking and acting the same way all over again?  Ezra gives us a good example of how we should respond to repeated sin. EZRA IS APPALLED BY THE PEOPLE’S SIN: When Ezra is informed that the people who had returned from exile, even the Levites and the priests