9/29/2011 9:21:58 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: His apathy
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ester 3:15b
Message of the verse: “and while the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in confusion.”
In today’s SD we look at the last reason why Haman was such a dangerous man, and it is because of his apathy. (Emotional emptiness Inability to feel normal or passionate human feelings or to respond emotionally) (Encarta Dictionary) (North American)
This section of Scripture reminds me of looking at movies based on World War II, especially those based on the European theater when you can see many Jews being killed only being Jewish, and then you see the German soldiers eating and drinking like nothing was wrong. “Schindler’s List” is a movie produced by Steven Spielberg that tells the story of how the Germans were killing the Jews in WW II and although it has some rather graphic scenes in it one can surely see the apathy of those who were killing the Jews.
We see in the last part of verse fifteen two men, one who seems to have no idea what is going on, and one who is on a mission from Hell. After the law is given these two men sit down to have a drink, and I am sure in the case of Haman it was to celebrate his seeming victory, but in fact in three months he will be the one who is killed by the man who does not seem to know what is going on. God had two people waiting in the wings to do His will, Ester and Mordecia.
In his commentary on this verse Dr. Wiersbe quotes Helen Keller who wrote, “Science may have found a cure for most evils, but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all—the apathy of human beings.” He also tells the story of J. Hudson Taylor who was a great missionary to china in the late 1800’s and how he had gone into a church where the believers were feasting and fellowshipping, and there was really nothing wrong with that, but he was unsettled with it and was pondering what the Lord had for him to do, and so he went for a walk on the beach. One of the phrases that he had written in his book that got to the heart of Warren Wiersbe was “unable to bear the sight of rejoicing multitudes in the house of God.” As stated above there is nothing wrong with this provided that the hearts of these people in the house of God had a good attitude of doing the will of God which has in it winning the lost. Dr. Wiersbe writes “but rejoicing must never be a substitute for responsibility.”
The parable of the “Good Samaritan” in Luke 10:25-37 speaks of apathy, for there were two “religious” people who saw the plight of the wounded man and walked right by, but the “disrespected” Samaritan stopped and helped the man and cared for him until he was well again at his own cost.
The problem that is seen here is that apathy is not just found in unbelievers who want to go out and destroy the Jews, for it can be found in believers who do not remember what it is to be lost, and therefore do little to tell others of the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ. They are content in great fellowship with their friends when there is a world of lost people around them who need to hear the go good news of the Gospel.
I have a friend of mine who has coined the phrase “Divine Connection,” and I like that phrase and have had some divine connections that have happened to me on different occasions. A family moved in next door to us a few years back and I had the privilege to leading a pretty large number of them to the Lord, start a Bible Study with them where others came to know the Lord, and then took a few months to disciple them in the fundamentals of the faith. This was surely a divine connection as it was the Lord who set all of this up and all I had to do was follow the leading of His Spirit. It was in the summer when the first of them received Christ and then in the fall we had a Bible Study where more came to know the Lord. One night about a week before Thanksgiving I woke up around 4:00 AM and could not go back to sleep. This was a moment unlike any other in my life when the Spirit of God was speaking to my heart about those who had just been saved. He seemed to say to my heart that it was Him who had done this and that this was the greatest miracle that can happen. I began to cry over the fact that these people were now part of God’s kingdom and I have never looked at the salvation of a soul like I did before. I must admit that there was a form of apathy in me before that morning, and I thank the Lord that He spoke to me then.
I must say what is on my heart at this time and that is that I believe in divine connections as there have been more such times since the very special year. I don’t think that we as believers need to have a guilty conscience about not witnessing to the lost, unless we are not willing to do so, but I do believe that we need to pray that God would send us these divine connections and when they come be willing to step out by faith to tell them of the hope that we have within us. Pray that God will lay someone on your heart that He will save, and that He will allow you to be a part of it.
Last year I had a painful experience with a kidney stone and went to a doctor to have it “blasted.” He did a terrible job of it and so I ended up in the hospital to have it removed another way. The doctor that was going to do this procedure was a man whom I had a burden for him to know the Lord, as I had him before but due to some insurance issues could not go to see him. I truly believe that this was a divine connection, even though it was a very painful thing that I went through in order to see this doctor again. While going to see him for a visit after the procedure I took the time to write him a long letter about how I came to know the Lord and how He changed my life. I also bought for him a small mp3 player with some messages on it from the 9th chapter of Daniel. I pray for him a lot and hope to see him soon, as we have been out of state for eight months. When I think about the pain that I went through to be able to tell him the good news of the Gospel I know that it was all worth it.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I want to have a heart for the lost and I pray that the Lord will continue to send me more divine connections in order to tell them the greatest story ever told. When apathy seems to try and slip into my life I pray that the Lord will remind me of that wonderful morning when He showed me the beauty of seeing a soul saved.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Pray for more divine connections.
2. Continue to learn contentment.
3. Pray that our Bible Study that begins tomorrow will bring glory to the Lord.
9/29/2011 10:53:27 AM
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