“The Attributes of God” - Acts 17:24-27 

• “We often make God to be in our image when really He’s made us in His image.”
• Moses asked God who he should say has sent him, God replied “I am who I am” - the literal definition of “to be”; He is eternity
• He is also self-sustaining; He is complete in Himself and is the same person in three roles (God as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit) so He is also community

Sometimes we think, “if I didn’t do this, if I didn’t share my faith and reach out to person X,Y, and Z, they would have never come to know Christ.” Not true; God is the one in control and we need to let him guide us and take the glory.

• Sin is our authority - whenever we think that we are in control and we make the decisions of what is good and best for us, we aren’t submitting to God’s sovereignty. God is the authority and acknowledging God’s sovereign rule is the one hope (which Jesus gave us access to by taking our sins up on the cross to die.)

Psalm 135:6 - we have freedom (to discover what is good, to do good things, and to receive joy from them)

• Is everything in my life perfect? Are my relationships with my friends and family perfect? Is my love life perfect? Is my plan for my future and career perfectly mapped out? No; we are not the true sovereigns in our lives. “We’re terrible at being sovereign; God is perfect at it.”
• “The only way to experience this life we were created to experience is through Jesus” - God wants me and wants to give me joy despite my failure and sin and faults. He wanted me to exist and live to know Him.
• The self needs to die and we need to submit to the true sovereignty of God; to worship the Creator, not the created 

Phillipians 2:9-10 “Don’t miss the opportunity God has given you!”

Romans 1:18-23 (esp. verse 22) “professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”

• Do we know God for who He is, or who we make Him to be? “What comes to mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” A. W. Tozer

We know God because He revealed Himself to us and make us in His image, yet sin suppressed Him and His truth from us - like what [a friend’s mom] said about Jesus on the cross and our sin separating Him from the Father.

• it’s possible to know God but not give Him glory and praise; we begin to worship the created instead of the Creator
• we sometimes choose to resent Him for what we don’t have instead of thanking Him for what we do have
• we exchange who He really is for an “idol” of Him that fits our life and wants

Do I do things to try to earn the approval of others when I should be trying to earn God’s approval? Jesus loves me fully and died on the cross for me; I can be free because of Him, I “no longer need to play the game” to be fulfilled; going to Jesus will quench my thirst.

a quick little note:

Sometimes the doubt I have in God isn’t about Him, but about why the heck He would love us so much and want to give us a world and lives and just create our souls with the intent for us to grow. It’s the most pure form of love, I guess is my answer right now? He loves us that much, to give us everything and not force us to give anything in return. It’s just unbelievable, the difference between what it would mean for me to give everything and what it means for God to give everything, to promise joy in suffering and light in the dark. Can we invent a better, less inadequate way to give thanks, or is that why we can love too?

Now I’m gonna start right off by saying that this one gave me a decent amount of trouble, and that I’m not satisfied with what I pulled out of it tonight, because I feel like there is more to it than I’m seeing, but I’m somehow not reading it right or am incapable of understanding - a lot like Nebuchadnezzar and his dreams. 

In particular, Daniel 2:21 gave me the most trouble as far as sheer understanding goes: “He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the understanding.” I’m kind of at a loss here for the meaning in this verse; maybe it’s that God gives His wisdom to those who are wise in matters of the earth, because he is the revealer of secrets that no man can uncover. 

Some verses that stood out to me especially:

• Daniel 3:15 “and who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?” I noticed that in my NJKV, god is not capitalized before Nebuchadnezzar throws Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego into the fire, but afterwards in 3:29 says “there is no other God who can deliver like this.” 

It’s apparent that I had trouble finding meaning in these chapters based on the length of explanation I wrote down for myself, but I sought to look at how this story related to Esther’s (based on a conversation with a friend about the similarities) and myself and God.

God gave Nebuchadnezzar (I wish his name was shorter!) his kingdom and he prospered and ruled. More relevantly, He gave the king Daniel, Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach) and Azariah (Abed-nego). Daniel is truly a wise man before he is given an official title - “he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies.” (Daiel 1:8). This brings Daniel into God’s favor; “God gave [him] knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding of all visions and dreams,” (Daniel 1:17). There’s the meaning of giving wisdom to the wise, I’m guessing. This gift of food that the king gave the men reminded me of the jewels the women were given before meeting the king in Esther. Esther seeks what is good, just as Daniel does. 

And like Xerxes, Nebuchadnezzar seeks information and truth; tis time concerning his dreams. He is willing to give glory and joy to the men who can both tell and interpret his dreams, he asks all wise men, but none can accomplish the task without the wisdom of God. As I read this, again came Proverbs 25:2 - “it is the glory of God to conceal a matter,” (in Daniel he is the “revealer of secrets” as well as the concealer) “but it is the honor of kings to search it out.” Here I saw Nebuchadnezzar concealing his own dreams and asking man to reveal it, not God. 

Also, as Esther’s people [the Jews] were condemed to be killed, Daniel and his friends are sought to be killed, even a second time when Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams are first interpreted by Daniel through “the revealer of secrets”.

The Esther similarities just keep coming! Daniel approaches the king, despite the risk of death that lies before him, and interprets his dream. Daniel prayed for the wisdom in order to spare himself and his friends from death, not to have the glory of God’s power for his own. In the dream Daniel interprets that all kingdoms, including the king’s, will fall before the kingdom of heaven - basically saying that all men will fall before God, because He is the Most High.

And it seems like Nebuchadnezzar is struck by God’s work through Daniel (2:47) but then he immediately forms a statue of gold that he demands everyone praise, “[the image of gold] that King Nebuchadnezzar has made.” I generalized this as the king demanding everyone to praise him and give him glory for doing something, when really God has given him everything he has. Maybe he believes that God has given him his kingdom and Daniel because He is pleased with him, and sees no error in his pride. He doesn’t seem altered by Daniel’s interpretation through God.

As when Mordecai would not honor Haman, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego wouldn’t praise and worship the image that the king has set up, and were sentenced to burn. This passage really closely paralleled Esther (Daniel 3:12).

• “and if I perish, I perish! (Esther 4:16) compared with Daniel 3:17-18.

More resemblances; they refuse to follow any law but God’s law and are saved. The king sees the image of a fourth man, the Son of God, in the fire with them (Daniel 3:25).

• Daniel 3:28-29 “because there is no other God who can deliver like this.” Here I think that the king gains more faith in God, who has shown him His power and that His law is the highest; no man can trump God, basically. “The Most High rules in the kingdom of man and gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men.” (Daniel 4:17 and repeated) 

When Daniel predicts and interprets this to the king it occurs just when God said it would; Nebuchadnezzar says he made Babylon great for his own majesty (Daniel 4:30) and God makes him the lowest of men. It took King Nebuchadnezzar turning from a mighty tree to a stump to get it, that pride in himself will lead to failure but giving glory to God will bring him joy and honor (Daniel 4:37).

1. God is the highest law and the Most High. He can do anything and everything I do should be for His glory and in His name, not for my own. When I try to profit through my work, my own golden image” or my figurative kingdom, I’m gonna get ripped apart by God and so is my kingdom. Nothing I do for my own glory will fulfill me. It’s only through bringing glory to God and lifting up His name that I will be quenched, just like Jeff says at Cru. I need to ask God to “reveal secrets” too, instead of trying to on my own.
2. I need to not only appreciate the gifts that God bestows upon me and use them in His honor, but also to not get prideful when times are good. What happens when I am thrown into the fire, or made into the lowest of men? No threat should tear at my faith and understanding and trust in the Lord. In fact, it should be more present when I am the stump, because sometimes it is my own wake-up call. (I thought it was interesting that God chose to tell Nebuchadnezzar to wake up through dreams, too.) 

In times of good, I need to watch my pride and be thankful and give the glory to God, and know that even if He takes everything away that His law and plan are the highest. In times that are bad, I need to seek His mercy like Daniel and remember that He gives the kingdom of heaven to the lowest of man. The man with lowest pride. I need to humble myself.

Well first, I wrote down some passages that stuck out because they linked together (later on they kind of just seem to be openers to the theme that I talk about):

• Esther 1:13, 2:15 and 8:8
• Esther 4:16 “and if I perish, I perish!”

Then I started looking at the King, Xerxes, or as my version has it, Anasuerus. He is presented as generous, thoughtful, and not vainglorious - he consults his advisers openly (Esther 1:13) and is willing to listen to what others have to say. He assigns punishment justly without extra wrath or violence, and more importantly rights injustices when he learns the full truth of events that occur, such as when Haman constructs the gallows for Mordecai to be hanged on. He seeks the truth and has an open heart. This also reminds me of another passage which the movie adaptation of this book, One Night With The King, quotes: “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; it is the glory of kings to seek it out.” (Proverbs 25:2)

And then there is the obvious theme of “obeying” in the story of Esther - the King’s word is absolute law and when Queen Vashti disobeys him, she commits a wrong and is punished by being basically dethroned, to be replaced ultimately with Esther. Esther obeys the laws of the country like the rest of the women as she goes to the king’s palace, and obeys Mordecai when he tells her to keep her Jewish faith hidden (Esther 2:10).

She is always seeking to please those who are above her, whether they are her elders, her king, or her God. When Xerxes calls her, she also exhibits his trait of seeking by asking Hagai for what the king would like her to wear instead of thinking of what she would like for herself (in one version of the story, the women were allowed to keep whatever jewels they wore before the king, and many loaded up with tons of jewels and gold) (Esther 2:15).

And when the time came for Esther to submit and obey God’s law before all others, Esther did, by being willing to die in the mere attempt to save her people (Esther 4:16). 

• Haman says to Xerxes, “their laws are different from all other people’s” (Esther 3:8). The Jews who followed God’s command before any other were protected “because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them” (Esther 9:3). Mordecai’s fear of GOD inspired Haman’s fear of Mordecai and the Jews.

I noted several passages of the “obeying” in Esther

• Esther 2:10,15,17,19 
• Esther 4:11, 13-14, 16-17
• Esther 5:2,5,8
• Esther 7:2-4
• and Esther 8:3,12,20

Esther obeys and she follows the laws of her faith and country; when it comes time to follow God’s law Xerxes finds favor in her. Then, many of the “obeys” are suddenly commands that Esther is giving out herself - her requests that follow God’s laws bring her favor. Conversely, Xerxes learns of Haman’s ploy and punishes him for going against those who obeyed the king, those who he had favor in because they obeyed. Those who go against the law of God in the book of Esther failed, and those who followed God’s law and obeyed received joy and favor.

So what did I learn? I asked myself. What does this story have to do with God, or me? God isn’t even mentioned once in the book of Esther, but He’s very present.

1. Those who follow God’s commands with a faithful heart and who say, “What is Your request, Lord? It shall be carried out,” just as Xerxes said to Esther will find that their own requests are answered and their prayers solved.
2. Esther doesn’t question the commands of her elders, her king, or her God, but goes against the law with her own life on the line, unafraid to perish. What am I willing to risk to follow the word of God? When do I need to listen to my elders and my God instead of dismissing them or acting as if I know better? I need to trust and obey. I need to ask “What is Your request, Lord? It shall be done!” The same goes for Mom and others - “how can I help or obey you?” Focusing on that before I ask “God, why haven’t You done this for me? Why haven’t You given me what I’ve been praying so much for?” or “Mom, why won’t you let me have this or do this thing?” Because the Jews were saved from death and brought joy, because the fear of Mordecai and Esther, I too will be given joy in fearing and obeying the Lord. I need to give more and ask for less.
3. Mordecai tells Esther when she is to go before the king and risk her life that she is not safe just because she is queen, and that perhaps she was even given this role for a purpose. In the same way we’re all called to go into the metaphorical court of the king at some point and stand up for our people. I need to adopt Esther’s attitude, “If I perish, I perish!” I should be obeying God’s will and working in my own roles rather than dismissing them, because I’m in them for a reason. Even here on Tumblr, I’ve got a voice and a role, and I could walk away because I’m afraid to alienate people or getting people mad, but I can also try to reach out to those who need God and need a christian friend, any friend, to help save someone I may not have been able to if I weren’t here.

And that all was the discoveries I made through spending an hour on the book of Esther! What I saw before as just one of the Bibles more romantic stories has really explained to me what it means to obey and why I should; there’s a reason we are given instructions and rules to follow - following God will bring us eternal joy, how could my own way be better? I know I’ll never be perfect and I’ll never be able to overcome sin on my own, but today I figured out a little more about what it means to obey and what I can gain from doing it, and how to be a better person with others. I don’t know everything, God does!