Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / After the Ache . . . Celebrate! │ Msg 1112 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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After the Ache . . . Celebrate! │ Msg 1112 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: After the ache of their near extermination, the Jews had
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: much to celebrate. God had spared their lives through the
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: most unlikely young woman. Early in her life, just an
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: orphan girl who had won the heart of a king
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: and swayed him ultimately to spare her people. Although the
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  Speaker 1: book of Esther does not mention God's name per se,
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  Speaker 1: Every page bears the marks of his handiwork. His unseen
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  Speaker 1: but glorious name, not the king's, nor Mordecai's, nor even
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Esther's name, but God's name is to be praised. The
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  Speaker 1: story of Esther was recorded so that when future generations
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  Speaker 1: of God's people recalled their hardships, they would look back
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: not on the pain but on God's abiding presence and
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: enduring faithfulness through the trial. Let me read for you
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: sections from Esther chapter 9, and as I do, let
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: your heart sing in celebration of God. Beginning in verse
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: 20 of chapter 9, Then Mordecai recorded these events, and
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  Speaker 1: he sent letters.
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  Speaker 2: To all the Jews who were in all.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: The provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, obliging
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  Speaker 1: them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar
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  Speaker 1: and the fifteenth day of the same month annually, because
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  Speaker 1: on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: And it was a month which was turned for them
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  Speaker 1: from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday,
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  Speaker 1: that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: and sending portions of food to one another, and gifts
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  Speaker 1: to the poor. Thus the Jews undertook what they had
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  Speaker 1: started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: For Haman, the son of Hamadathah, the Agagite, the adversary
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  Speaker 1: of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to
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  Speaker 1: destroy them, and had cast purr that is, the lot,
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  Speaker 1: to disturb them and destroy them. But when it came
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: to the king's attention, he commanded by letter that his
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  Speaker 1: wicked scheme, which he had devised against the Jews, should
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  Speaker 1: return on his own head, and that he and his
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  Speaker 1: sons should be hanged on the gallows. Therefore they called
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  Speaker 1: these days Purim, after the name of Pur, So these
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  Speaker 1: days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: every family, every province, and every city. And these days
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: of Purim were not to fail among the Jews or
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  Speaker 1: their memory fade from their descendants.
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  Speaker 2: Most Christians seem to handle pain better than pleasure. For
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: some twisted and strange reason, we seem to do better
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  Speaker 2: with hard days than with easy days, with tough times
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  Speaker 2: rather than times of relief and celebration and leisure. I'm
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  Speaker 2: sure our critics would tell us that it is because
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  Speaker 2: of our consuming guilt we simply cannot seem to reward
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  Speaker 2: ourselves for good times. Hard days and tough times we
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  Speaker 2: seem to handle well. Stress and anxiety we not only experience,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: we tend to excuse. But times of reward, times of relief.
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  Speaker 2: If we're honest with ourselves, we tend to keep those
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  Speaker 2: times to ourselves. Because even though we may be among
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  Speaker 2: the few who can handle them, many of our friends cannot.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: We tend to weep with those who weep much more
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: easily than rejoice with those who rejoice, don't we? Most
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: folks I know who take a two-week vacation tell me
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  Speaker 2: that it takes about a week to begin to enjoy it.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Often because we're so wound up, we don't relax, and
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  Speaker 2: sometimes it's because we have to take that long a
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  Speaker 2: time to give ourselves permission. to enjoy the rewards of
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: a long year of work well done. Deep within our minds,
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  Speaker 2: there is sort of a bad news mentality. Have you
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: noticed that about yourself? If someone says to you at
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: church on a given Sunday, you know, I want to
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  Speaker 2: talk to you before long about something that's been on
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  Speaker 2: my mind for quite some time. Usually it's not a
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  Speaker 2: thought in your mind that says, oh, I'm sure he
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  Speaker 2: wants to tell me something real good. Often you find
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  Speaker 2: yourself saying, why don't you just tell me now so
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  Speaker 2: I don't have to worry about it for the next
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  Speaker 2: period of time. Or if someone says, I've written you
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  Speaker 2: a letter, you'll get it in a day or two.
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  Speaker 2: You go, oh no. Rather than a letter of affirmation,
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  Speaker 2: we expect confrontation. Why are we like that? One author writes,
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  Speaker 2: the highest and most desirable state of the soul is
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  Speaker 2: to praise God in celebration for being alive. Without perks,
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  Speaker 2: our lives are easily lost in the world of money, machines, anxiety,
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  Speaker 2: or inertia. Our poor splendid souls, how they fight for food.
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  Speaker 2: They have forgotten how to request the little perks. Our hurried, stressful,
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  Speaker 2: busy lives are unquestionably the most dangerous enemy of celebrating
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  Speaker 2: life itself. Somehow we must learn how to achieve happiness
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  Speaker 2: momentary slowdowns, and request from God a heightened awareness of
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  Speaker 2: the conception that life is a happy thing, a festival
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  Speaker 2: to be enjoyed rather than a drudgery to be endured.
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  Speaker 2: Life is full of perks if we train ourselves to
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  Speaker 2: perceive them. As someone has said, a thousand tiny things
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  Speaker 2: from which one can Weave a bright necklace of little
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  Speaker 2: pleasures for one's life. Say, when is the last time
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  Speaker 2: you would weave together a bright necklace from the little
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  Speaker 2: pleasures of life? Take Christmas, for instance. Some of you say, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: take Christmas. That would be a relief. I believe that
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  Speaker 2: if our focus were right and if our attitude were right,
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  Speaker 2: not only would we enjoy the celebration of the day itself,
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  Speaker 2: we could even enjoy the busy times that lead up
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  Speaker 2: to it. You know, there are songs to sing. There
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  Speaker 2: are smells to smell at Christmas time. There are sounds
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  Speaker 2: to hear. We'll hear no other time of the year.
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  Speaker 2: My son was the other day saying to me, our
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  Speaker 2: youngest son said, I don't mind the crowds. He said,
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  Speaker 2: these people that get all their stuff bought in September
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  Speaker 2: and October, they miss all the fun of the crowds.
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  Speaker 2: I thought, that is a terrific attitude. What a great response.
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  Speaker 2: I heard a terrific story the other day of a
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  Speaker 2: hassled shopper who came into a busy department store and
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  Speaker 2: wormed her way to the cosmetic counter, and there was
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  Speaker 2: a busy sales lady walking gift wrapping one gift and
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  Speaker 2: waiting on two other ladies and the gal looking for
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  Speaker 2: something said rather hurriedly to the sales lady, say, do
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  Speaker 2: you still have Elizabeth Taylor's passion? And the sales lady said,
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  Speaker 2: if I did, honey, would I be working here? How
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  Speaker 2: great it is to hear you laugh. How wonderful it
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  Speaker 2: is that God has given us joy rather than a
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  Speaker 2: life full of mourning, tears, and sadness. I've thought a
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  Speaker 2: lot about why we're like that. Why is it that
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  Speaker 2: we can even turn Christmas into a time of dread?
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  Speaker 2: I think I know. I believe our focus is more
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  Speaker 2: on the past than on the future. And being negative
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  Speaker 2: by nature, being bad news people by habit, We tend
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  Speaker 2: to pick out of the past the things that make
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  Speaker 2: us sigh and let them bleed into the present so
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  Speaker 2: that they color and stain our every day. When I
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  Speaker 2: look back into the past and when you look back
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  Speaker 2: into the past, the things that make us sigh are
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  Speaker 2: four in number. People, events, circumstances, and decisions. There were
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  Speaker 2: people that we wronged. There were people who wronged us.
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  Speaker 2: There were occasions where conversations were held and we feel
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  Speaker 2: badly about what we said or we are hurt within
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  Speaker 2: when we remember and how we've recorded them of the
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  Speaker 2: things that were said by those individuals. And because of
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  Speaker 2: the past and the sadness connected with wrong relationships or unhappy, unfulfilling,
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  Speaker 2: unproductive relationships, our present is marred because of people of
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  Speaker 2: the past it was the same in the days of
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  Speaker 2: Esther as the Jews look back I'm sure many of
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  Speaker 2: them would say it's Haman I remember it's Haman's henchmen
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  Speaker 2: it's Haman's sons it's Haman's followers how miserable they have
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  Speaker 2: made our lives if they chose to do that and
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  Speaker 2: they would sigh Looking back into the past at people
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  Speaker 2: who have made life miserable for us, who wouldn't sigh?
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  Speaker 2: Then there are events. When we look back, we don't
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  Speaker 2: remember the times of celebration, the great birthday parties, the
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  Speaker 2: fun things we attended, the joys of an evening around
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  Speaker 2: a fireplace, the pleasures of family together. You know what
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  Speaker 2: we remember? We remember earthquakes. Isn't it strange that Even
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  Speaker 2: the newspaper brings up anniversaries for earthquakes. I've never been
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  Speaker 2: able to understand. Three years ago today, we had a 5.6 shaker.
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  Speaker 2: I thought, so what? Who needs to remember it was
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  Speaker 2: three years ago today? Forget it. We live through it.
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  Speaker 2: We'll be able to go on beyond it. But if
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  Speaker 2: we're not careful, the events of our lives that are
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  Speaker 2: negative will stick. It would be true in the days
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  Speaker 2: of Esther. And they would sigh. The day the king
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  Speaker 2: wrote the edict, the day Haman handed it out, the
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  Speaker 2: day the couriers came to our province and announced, the
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  Speaker 2: Jews will die on the 13th of Adar, and don't
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  Speaker 2: you forget it. What a horrible event. And if they
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  Speaker 2: lived in the light of that event, their whole life
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  Speaker 2: would be negative, down, sad, and sorrowful. Then there are circumstances, conversations,
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  Speaker 2: difficult jams, situations we found ourselves in, Relational barriers could
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  Speaker 2: be true in Esther's day. And it would be true
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  Speaker 2: in our day. And we would sigh. Perhaps the worst
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  Speaker 2: of the four would be decisions. There isn't a person
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  Speaker 2: listening to me right now who hasn't made wrong decisions.
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  Speaker 2: Who hasn't made a foolish decision. Who hasn't gone too
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  Speaker 2: far or not far enough. Who didn't step out on
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  Speaker 2: faith or who called it faith and it wasn't faith.
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  Speaker 2: It was presumption. And you look back now through the
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  Speaker 2: perspective of the past number of years and you see
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  Speaker 2: it as a wrong decision or at least a weak one.
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  Speaker 2: And we're all hung up in today because we are
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  Speaker 2: snagged on the people and events and circumstances and the
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  Speaker 2: decisions of the past. None of which we can change.
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  Speaker 3: None.
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  Speaker 2: None. But the enemy of our souls continues to announce
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  Speaker 2: to us failures, wrongs, disappointments, disasters, calamities. And we try
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  Speaker 2: to put our lives together in this long tunnel called
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  Speaker 2: the present. We can't do it. Let me show you
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  Speaker 2: something from the book of Philippians chapter 3 before we
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  Speaker 2: turn back to the ancient scroll of Esther yet again.
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  Speaker 2: And let me show you 14 words from the New
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  Speaker 2: Testament that can make a difference. These are words that
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  Speaker 2: I call the secret of celebrating life. How do I
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  Speaker 2: do it? What does it require? This isn't that complicated.
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  Speaker 2: But it will require some mental discipline. I'm looking at
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  Speaker 2: Philippians 3, 13 and 14. And there isn't a person
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  Speaker 2: listening right now who couldn't do that. better by applying
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  Speaker 2: what I'm going to read. In the middle of verse 13,
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  Speaker 2: we read, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to
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  Speaker 2: what lies ahead, I press on. There they are. Most
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  Speaker 2: of you are counting, just make sure there are 14.
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  Speaker 2: When you finish that, please underline the words, forgetting what
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  Speaker 2: lies behind and Look closely. That's only part of it.
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  Speaker 2: Reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on. You
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  Speaker 2: know what that kind of philosophy will do to your
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  Speaker 2: whole life? It will turn you into a celebrant. You
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  Speaker 2: will find that you mourn and sigh less. And you
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  Speaker 2: laugh at life with God by your side. More. Turn
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  Speaker 2: from Philippians 3 back to Esther chapter 3. Will you
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  Speaker 2: do that? By now your Bible probably opens automatically to
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  Speaker 2: this old book that had gathered so much dust over
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  Speaker 2: the years. By now you remember the story of the book.
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  Speaker 2: How the plot thickened. how disaster seemed to be written
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  Speaker 2: across every Jewish life, how doom was spelled so clearly,
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  Speaker 2: so eloquently, and how God changed the events to turn
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  Speaker 2: wrong into right. I'm reading from Esther 3. Locate verse 6,
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  Speaker 2: and let's begin about the middle of the verse.
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  Speaker 3: 3-6.
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  Speaker 2: Therefore, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people
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  Speaker 2: of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
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  Speaker 2: In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in
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  Speaker 2: the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, now circle this next word, Pur,
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  Speaker 2: that is, The lot was cast before Haman from day
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  Speaker 2: to day, from month to month, until the 12th month,
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  Speaker 2: that is the month Adar. Sounds a little bit vague,
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  Speaker 2: a little oblique. Let me explain. You may recall when
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  Speaker 2: Haman was trying to decide when to carry out his
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  Speaker 2: plot to exterminate the Jews, he relied on an ancient
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  Speaker 2: custom of casting lots. A lot was called in those
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  Speaker 2: days Pur, P-U-R. And in the casting of the lots
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  Speaker 2: in some strange manner as a result of continuing the process,
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  Speaker 2: he came upon a date, the 13th of Adar. What
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  Speaker 2: interests me is not only the date, but the name
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  Speaker 2: of the lot, Pur. Let's take a little excursion in
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  Speaker 2: linguistics and let me help you with this. In English,
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: we pluralize a word by adding S or ES most often.
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  Speaker 2: In Hebrew and its sister language Aramaic, a singular term
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  Speaker 2: is turned into plural by adding IM. The English word
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  Speaker 2: for angel is cherub. The Hebrew plural for cherub is
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  Speaker 2: not cherub's. but cherubim. Seraph is another kind of angel,
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  Speaker 2: and the plural for seraph is not seraphs, but seraphim.
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  Speaker 2: The god Baal is sometime proliferated through the Old Testament
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  Speaker 2: in multiple forms, and that's called not Baals, but Baalim,
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  Speaker 2: Baalim for plural. So if we were to pluralize poor
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  Speaker 2: and make The lot represent lots, plural. It would be Purim. Purim.
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  Speaker 2: He decided that there would be the final death knell
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  Speaker 2: on the Jews on a certain day. Locate verse 13
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  Speaker 2: of this third chapter. Letters were sent by couriers to
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  Speaker 2: all the king's provinces saying, to destroy, to kill, to
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  Speaker 2: annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children,
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  Speaker 2: in one day, the 13th day of the 12th month,
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  Speaker 2: the month of Ar, to seize their possession as plunder.
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  Speaker 2: What is interesting, and you know the story now, is
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  Speaker 2: that between the 3rd and the 9th chapter, the tables
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  Speaker 2: were turned. Haman was captured in all of his anti-Semitism
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  Speaker 2: and murder crimes, And the queen's heart won the king's mind.
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  Speaker 2: And the king made the decision not only to kill Haman,
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  Speaker 2: but to wipe the slate clean and to remove the
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  Speaker 2: dread of the Jews from the Jews. And so this
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  Speaker 2: day of the 13th of Adar, which is their last
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  Speaker 2: month of the year, was turned from mourning and sadness
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  Speaker 2: to a time of celebration. As a matter of fact,
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  Speaker 2: when you turn to chapter 9, turn please. You'll discover
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  Speaker 2: that on the 13th of Adar, they, rather than being killed,
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  Speaker 2: turned tables on their enemies and annihilated many of them.
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  Speaker 2: Verse 16, chapter 9. The rest of the Jews who
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  Speaker 2: were in the king's provinces assembled to defend their lives
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  Speaker 2: and rid themselves of their enemies and kill 75,000 of
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  Speaker 2: those who hated them. But they did not lay their
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  Speaker 2: hands on the plunder. This was done. look at this,
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  Speaker 2: on the very day they were originally to have died.
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  Speaker 2: And in honor of this remarkable switch of events, they
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  Speaker 2: declared a day of celebration, which you anticipate was named Purim,
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  Speaker 2: or the Feast of Purim, as we call it today.
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  Speaker 2: And to this day, it is still celebrated by the Jews.
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  Speaker 2: To this day. What was once going to be their
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: death turned and became their future. their celebration. Aging Vance Havner,
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  Speaker 2: the evangelist, wrote a little book entitled It Is Toward Evening.
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  Speaker 2: And in it he tells the unforgettable story of a
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  Speaker 2: little town in Alabama that made its living raising cotton.
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  Speaker 2: One year as the cotton was growing and it appeared
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  Speaker 2: to be a bumper crop, the boll weevil invaded. Devastated
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: the crop and destroyed the economy of that little town
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  Speaker 2: in Alabama. Farmers, however, are an ingenious lot and they
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  Speaker 2: were determined not to just simply sit back and move
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  Speaker 2: into the poorhouse. One of the farmers got the idea
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  Speaker 2: of planting peanuts instead. Bold weevils don't like peanuts. And
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  Speaker 2: another decided to plant yet another produce and others still others.
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  Speaker 2: And before long, bumper crops of these began to bring
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  Speaker 2: the economy back to what later came to be known
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: as Enterprise, Alabama. I think that's significant. And do you
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  Speaker 2: know what they did? Well, they erected a monument to
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  Speaker 2: the boll weevil. It's there to this day. Vance Havner writes,
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  Speaker 2: all things work together for good to the Christians. Even
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  Speaker 2: our boll weevil experiences. Sometimes we settle into a humdrum
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  Speaker 2: routine as monotonous as growing cotton year after year. Then
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  Speaker 2: God sends the boll weevil. He jolts us out of
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  Speaker 2: our groove and we must find new ways to live.
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  Speaker 2: Financial reverses, great bereavement, physical infirmity, loss of position. How
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  Speaker 2: many have been driven by trouble to be better husbandmen
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  Speaker 2: and to bring forth far finer fruit from their souls.
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  Speaker 2: The best thing that ever happened to some of us
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  Speaker 2: was the coming of our bull weevil. Without that, we
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  Speaker 2: might still have been a cotton sharecropper. I'm speaking to
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  Speaker 2: people today, all of whom could raise up your own
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  Speaker 2: monument to the boll weevil. It invaded your life. It
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  Speaker 2: took your joy. It had the audacity to come without
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  Speaker 2: invitation and probably by surprise. And it devastated your faith
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  Speaker 2: at the time. You were cut down to size. The
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  Speaker 2: lot was cast. But your problem is you haven't yet
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  Speaker 2: built your monument. You haven't established Purim. You're feasting. You're
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  Speaker 2: still living in the sigh and the pain of all
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  Speaker 2: the sadness that comes over you when you remember the brokenness.
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  Speaker 2: That's what this is about. This isn't the story about
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  Speaker 2: some ancient feast. Not just that. It is that. But
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  Speaker 2: it's so much more. God has given us his word
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  Speaker 2: not to teach us dates and Hebrew words. He's given
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  Speaker 2: us his word to reconstruct our lives. To build monuments
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  Speaker 2: where we once wept and bled and some died. Where
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  Speaker 2: lives were hurt and hearts were hardened. And we were devastated.
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  Speaker 2: But forgetting that which lies behind and moving toward that
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  Speaker 2: which lies ahead, this is the way to press on.
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  Speaker 2: Don't just forget the past. Don't just, with the passing
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  Speaker 2: of your hands, say, oh, yeah, it was awful. Build
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  Speaker 2: a monument. Celebrate the feast. Pass along the lessons that
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  Speaker 2: led to the maturity and the changes that were so
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  Speaker 2: essential in your life and so different from when you
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  Speaker 2: were just a cotton sharecropper. When I read verses 17, 18,
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  Speaker 2: and 19, I read about a people who decided, let's
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  Speaker 2: name this day a day for a holiday. Let's call
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: it Purim. which could be translated, in your face, Haman,
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: or something like that. Here's to you, Haman. Here's to
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: our God. Look at 17. It's wonderful. All this annihilation
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: of the enemy was done on the 13th day of
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: the month Adar, and on the 14th day, they rested,
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: of course. They made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: How appropriate. The Jews who were in Susa assembled on
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: the 13th and the 14th day of the same month.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: They rested on the 15th day. It took them a
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: little longer to kill their enemies. And they made it
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: the day of feasting and rejoicing. How appropriate. How good. Therefore,
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: the Jews of the rural areas who live in the
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: rural towns make the 14th day of the month Adar
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: a holiday for rejoicing and feasting and sending portions of
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: food to one another. One of the early Christmas times.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: They wrap up gifts and send them to friends. especially
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: to the poor. It reminds me of the spontaneous celebration
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: that occurred shortly after Jamestown and Plymouth, when after enduring
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: the bitterness of winter, the early forefathers of our great
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: country decided to kill a few wild turkeys and in
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: primitive kind of ovens to bake fine cakes and pies.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: And to pull from the land some of the produce.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: And from the sea some of the fish. And have
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: a feast. To celebrate a giving of thanks to God
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: for surviving the awful winters of the past. It wasn't
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: official until the governor of Massachusetts made it official. In
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: their new England flag. But until then, it was a
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: spontaneous celebration of praise. It was their Purim. Those in
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: the old country said, you will never make it. You
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: will regret it. And it was their thanksgiving to God
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: for changing their sorrow into joy. It becomes official at
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: verse 20 down through verse 28 and how significant these
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: words appear. Mordecai whom I believe wrote the book of
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Esther recorded these events and he sent letters to all
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: the Jews who were in all the provinces of King
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: Ahasuerus both near and far. Now take notice of several
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: things in this present time. First of all notice the
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: date of the celebration. Obliging them to celebrate the 14th
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: day of the month and the 15th day of the
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: same month annually. So it was to be An annual holiday.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: Two holidays, really. The 13th and the 14th. Next, notice
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: the reason for the holiday. Because on those days the
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: Jews rid themselves of their enemies. And it was a
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: month which was turned for them from sorrow into gladness.
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: From mourning into a holiday. You see, they had already
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: planned who would be buried where. And who would die
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: and how? I mean, the families had perhaps rehearsed it
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: in their mind over the dinner table. They knew it
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: was coming until God intervened. And now they chose the
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: very days when they would have been annihilated and exterminated.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: And they turned those days from sadness and mourning to
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: rejoicing and celebration. It was to acknowledge the change of events.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: That's the reason for this time of celebration. Look at
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: the expression of it. 22 continues. That they should make
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: food to one another and gifts to the poor. This
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: is all being written into the record. This is the
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: way it will be for the Jews from henceforth. Then
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: the name of the holidays. Thus the Jews undertook what
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: they had started to do and what Mordecai had written
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: to them. For Haman, the son of Hamadathah, the Hagagite,
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against them
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: to destroy them and had cast poor, that is the lot,
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: to disturb them and to destroy them. And when it
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: came to the king's attention, he commanded by letter that
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: his wicked scheme, which he had devised against the Jews,
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: should return on his own head, and that he and
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: his son should be hanged on the gallows. Therefore, call
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: these days Purim, after the name of Pur. And because
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: of the instructions in this letter, both what they had
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: seen in this regard and what had happened to them,
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: let it be written. The custom was to take place annually.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: The Jews established and made a custom for themselves and
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: for their descendants, for all who allied themselves with them.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: Look at this, so that they should not fail to mourn. No,
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: to celebrate. To celebrate two days according to their regulation
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: and according to their appointed time annually. Ask many people
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: what the book of Esther represents. They will tell you
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: it's a book of tragedy. I don't read tragedy in Esther.
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: They will tell you it's the early Holocaust. There's no
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: Holocaust in Esther. There's a threat of a Holocaust. Do
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: you know this is the only book the Jews can
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: turn to to find a roots for their holidays of Purim?
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: Do you know when they still to this day read
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: from the scrolls of Esther? That little children and young
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: adults and old alike, when the name Haman is mentioned,
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: they pound on their desks and they pound on tables.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: Even with shoes, they pound on pieces of wood. Boo
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: and hiss. And then others, when they announce Mordecai and Esther,
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: they cheer. And they shout with the voices of joy
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: in honor of Esther. It's a reenactment of the story
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: of of triumph. It's called Purim. Look at 28. Here's
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: the purpose. So these days were to be remembered and
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: celebrated throughout every generation. And by the way, it's still
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: going on. Every family, every province, and every city. And
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: these days of Purim were not to fail from among
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: the Jews or their memory fade. From their descendants. There
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: it is. You know in two or three generations. Nobody
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: would have remembered Purim. Oh only a few. But it's
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: like talking to today's generation. About the difficulties of World
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: War II. And they listen. They smile a bit. Or
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: cock their head to the side. And they have no memory.
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: Of what many of us call the great war. You know,
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: in another generation, Vietnam will just be a place on
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: the map. There will be no memory. There will be
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: no sense of anguish, no sadness over loss. Even the
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: emotion would be gone if it weren't for the establishment
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: of a celebration. You see, this is the reason many
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: of us appreciate a return to Washington, D.C., a city
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: of memorials and monuments. Don't you love going there? It
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: is one city that has not considered monuments and extravagance.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: A number of years ago, my daughter and I jogged
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: early one morning in Washington, D.C. It was in the summer,
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: the sun was just coming up, and we ran from
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: our hotel down to the Washington Monument and turned, and
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: along the lagoon, to the Lincoln Memorial, and then over
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: and around the Jefferson Memorial, and then back down to
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: the Vietnam Memorial. At each memorial, we slowed a pace,
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: and we talked as we ran together. We rehearsed a
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: bit of the life or a bit of the history
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: that that memorial represented. Memorials represent places to stand and
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: to be quiet to read and to reflect and to
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: pass on to the next generation the roots of a
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: nation's heritage. They give the past significance because they give
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: the past perspective. Men and women One of my main
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: fears of life and lifestyle where most of us live
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: is that we have so few memorials, so few monuments,
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: even mental monuments. Life is lived in the fast lane.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: Quick decisions, quick money, Fast action. Strong competition. So little
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: time spent stopping and recording and learning. Have you observed
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: that a divorce can come and sweep across a family
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: and break it and bruise it and life goes right on?
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: that a young woman can get an abortion, and those
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: who know pluck their tongues, frown, shake their head, and
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: life goes on. And she later regrets it with words
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: she cannot even utter, but life goes on. And for another,
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: there's a financial reversal, and a business fails, and life
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: goes on. And still another, there's a death or a
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: heartache or a scandal. And before long, it's swept up
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: in the whirlwind of activity and life goes on. And
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: we're left with the anguish of a memory and so
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: little perspective. You see, in order for there to be
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: perspectives over these things, there must be monuments. There must
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: be memorials. And they must be returned to and learned
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: from and passed on. There must be the Purim's in
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: our lives. without which we live rootless, fast-laying lives without
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: much significance. And you know the worst part of all?
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: Our children learn less than little, often nothing, from our failures,
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: our brokenness, and our sorrows. If anything, they learn only
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: to hate like we hated and to get revenge like
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: we sought to do or simply to drink themselves to
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: sleep like so many choose to do. In 29 through 32,
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: at the end of the story, all of it is
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: made official. Queen Esther steps in and writes with full
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: authority along with Mordecai, to confirm this letter about Purim.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: And then the letters are sent to all the Jews
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: in all the provinces, according to verse 30. And they
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: established those days of Purim at their appointed times, just
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them.
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: And the command of Esther, this chapter concludes, establishes these
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: customs for Purim, and it is written in the book.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: There's a memorial established There's a holiday for reflection. And
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: to this day, even little children, centuries removed from the
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: days of Esther, take off their shoes and pound on
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: desks to remember the name of Haman. And cheer to
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: the top of their voice as they listen again to
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: the name of Mordecai and the name of Esther. They
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: still learn from the ancient scroll. What is all of
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: this saying? How does it relate to our lives today?
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: Pray tell. Well, most of all, I think it's saying
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: all of us, when looking back, can see sadness and
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: remorse and nothing else unless perspective is provided. And I
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: think it is saying Unless we provide some kind of perspective,
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: we will do nothing but sigh and grieve over our past.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: In light of that, I have a suggestion and I
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: have a warning. My suggestion is this, that each one
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: of us raise up memorials Mental monuments that turn tragedies
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: into triumphs. Each one of us. That we raise up
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: memorials to turn tragedies into triumphs. Webster says a monument
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: is a lasting evidence of something or someone notable. Webster
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: defines memorial serving to preserve remembrance, a commemoration. Think back
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: for a moment to the coming of the boll weevil.
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: All of you are old enough to have a few
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: crop failures, disasters. Think back. Have you built a monument
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: to it? It may be too close and too raw
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: for you to do it today, but don't spend the
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: rest of your life licking your wounds over yesteryear, or
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: you will experience a grim future. What did you learn
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: from it? How did it turn in your life? You
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: can't change it. It's over. Sure, you should have known better. Sure,
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: I could leave you with all kinds of shame and
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: On the shoulds and woods and oughts that I could
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: lay on you. You could lay on me. But what
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: did you learn from it? You see, it's that that's
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: worth passing on to the next generation and the next.
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: Here's the warning. Don't turn the memorial into a shrine.
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: Isn't it strange those who travel in the land of
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: Israel today are told this is a piece of wood
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: from the cross? And this is a piece of wood
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: from the cross. One cynic said, if I gathered up
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: all the wood that was told me to be a
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: piece of the cross, I could have built a battleship.
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: Who cares about a piece of wood from the cross?
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: It isn't in existence. Who needs it? What I need
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: is a memorial and God's given it in the table.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: The bread and the cup. That's the memorial of the cross.
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: And he left it as a legacy for people of faith.
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: And every time we sit at the table, children are
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: to understand, sweetheart, the bread represents the body. Honey, this
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: piece of bread is for his body, which was given
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: for and the juice. This is represents his blood. This
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: is a memorial. And we remember this because he died
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: for us. But it isn't a place to worship. We
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: don't worship the elements. We don't bow before the table
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: where they're served. We worship the memory and the significance,
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: the triumph of the cross. This is what makes Christmas
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: so wonderful. See, the enemy would love that we just
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: do nothing but keep it merry. Just Merry Christmas! A
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: legend is told of the time Satan and his demons
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: were having a Christmas party. As the demonic guests were
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: preparing to depart, one grinned and said to Satan, Merry Christmas,
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: Your Majesty! At that, Satan replied with a growl, Yes,
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: keep it merry! If they ever get serious about it,
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: we'll all be in trouble. Get serious about it. It
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: is the birth of the baby. It is the coming
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: of God. It is the intervention of God's presence. Get serious.
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: It is the invitation to take him and own him
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: as Lord, Master, Don't seek to find the site where
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: he was crucified. Don't seek to locate the tomb from
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: which he was raised. They've made them all into shrines.
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: You need the Savior. Really, what I offer today is
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: an answer to the ache of life. An answer to
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: the Hamans whose shadows have crossed your lives and to
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: the would-have-been holocausts that would have devastated your existence. I
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: suggest you make a memorial out of it. And the
• 45:31
  Speaker 2: lessons you learned from it that have turned you into
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: a person God wanted you to be, those are the
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: things to pass on and on and on. I don't
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: know what all of this says to anyone else, but
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: it says a whale of a lot to me. It
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: says I'm grateful for a book that has recorded the
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: whole story that hasn't quite yet ended. It will next time.
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: But it's a story of triumph that grew out of tragedy.
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: Ecstasy out of agony. Celebration out of an ache. When
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: they nailed him on a cross, I imagine that night
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: a lot of them got drunk. I'm sure they toasted
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: one another with triumphal words. I'm sure the empty-headed fools
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: that ran the government thought, another crazy gone from us.
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: Finally got rid of that headache. In the eerie hours
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: of the morning, three days later, there was the beginning
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: of a celebration. And that's a message we return to
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: every Easter because God gave us a memorial. My question
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: to you is how long will you stay at the
• 47:15
  Speaker 2: ache and the heartache and the brokenness of your pain?
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: When will it become for you a Purim? A time
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: to learn and to pass on the lessons. The beginning
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: of the rest of your life. When? Let's bow together,
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: shall we? Imagine for a moment stepping before the real
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: tomb from which he was raised. Imagine looking into the
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: distance and seeing the shadow of the real cross that
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: the sands of time have not erased. The real scene.
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: Now imagine standing before him. whose hands are scarred, whose
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: side was pierced. Are you real sure you have a
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: relationship with him that will take you into and beyond eternity?
• 48:51
  Speaker 2: Are you certain he is your God and Savior? He
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: invites wise people to come to him to this day
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: To see themselves in their sin and lostness and brokenness.
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: And to come and join the company of the faithful.
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: To come and adore him.
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: Our Father, we realize that in life there are these
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: events that occur that bring us a deep ache of heart.
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: In fact, they break our hearts. They're hard to bear.
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: They're hard to hear. They're hard to deal with. They're
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: hard to recover from. But when we begin to get
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: your perspective on these things, when we begin to see
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: your hand at work turning our heartaches into causes of celebration,
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: we realize yet again that the life of faith pays off.
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: Thank you for honoring your name, even through the midst
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: of our trials. Thank you for a reminder that in
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: the end, you win. Thank you, Father, for personalizing events
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: in such special ways to make us realize that memorials
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: can be built in places of monuments of misery or
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: memories that break our hearts. Bring us back to those
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: memorials from time to time to strengthen our faith as
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: we call to mind what you have done in turning
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: curses and heartaches into causes of celebration blessing. We thank
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: you for all of this, and we claim these things
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: today by faith. In the name of Jesus Christ, our
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: Lord and Master, our triumphant King.
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 50:57
  Speaker 3: The preceding message, After the Ache, Celebrate, was copyrighted in
• 51:01
  Speaker 3: 1989-1990 1997, 2005, 2018, and 2026, and the sound recording
• 51:10
  Speaker 3: was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 51:17
  Speaker 3: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.