EXTREME FAMILY DEVOTIONS
LESSONS 25-27

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Session 25: Who is Esther?
Guided Reading: Esther

Read the entire book of Esther. This is 10 chapters, but chapter 10 is like three verses, so it barely counts as a chapter.  

Kids Zone: Watch this episode of SuperBook: 
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q94wBYdMwtE

Lesson: This story was set in motion by the casting of lots called Purim. It is pronounced, ‘pour rum,’ which is fitting because the Festival of Purim involves getting very, very drunk. Anyway, this casting of lots represents the plot to wipe out the entire Jewish race in an act of genocide and is later turned into a celebration.

The fragility of God's people is evident in this story. We are not reliant upon our own strength but upon the strength of God. If you have read this story however, one thing is missing… God is not mentioned once in the entire book of Esther. What is unmistakable however is that God’s hand is in and through this story.

Everything fell into place so that God’s people would be saved from the plot of Haman. Esther's role is a sacrificial role. Knowing that entering the palace court without being invited may be the final act, Esther still thought it was worth the risk to save the Jewish people.

Esther is often compared to a savior role just like Jesus. She saved the Jewish people from certain death. There are, of course, many things to compare to Jesus’ story. The casting of lots is mentioned in the crucifixion story. The soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ robes. Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem and Esther was welcomed into the palace court. Esther requested a three day fast. Jesus rose from the dead in three days.

Another comparison to Jesus are his words to his disciples in Matthew 10:16-20... 16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

Esther was given the words to say at the right time. She didn’t say what she had to say at the first banquet, she said it at the second banquet at just the right time; “while they were drinking wine.” It was probably the best time to say it.

The events in this story are continued to be celebrated to this day in the Festival of Purim. If you would like to know more about this celebration you may watch them here: The Festival of Purim.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mmZDYogjCk  

Jesus would have celebrated this event as well. John 5:1-15. Purim is normally a two day celebration, however when it falls on the Sabbath the celebration is extended to three days.

Activity: Celebrate your own Purim Festival. In 2020 this festival happened March 9th and 10th, so we missed it, but you can still have your own anyway. I found this recipe for hamantaschen, a traditional Purim cookie. Try it out! What else can you do to celebrate Purim?
toriavey.com/how-to/how-to-make-perfect-hamantaschen/

Watch Yourself: Watch this overview of Esther:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JydNSlufRIs

Session 26: Who is Job?
Guided Reading: Job 1-3, 38-42 (If you can read all of Job, please do!)

Split the reading between you or use www.biblegateway.com to listen. As you are listening, follow along in your Bible. Highlight or underline things that stand out to you.

Watch Yourself: Watch this overview of Job.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQwnH8th_fs

Kids Zone: Watch this episode of Superbook:
us-en.superbook.cbn.com/episode_player?v=4515327548001

I could not find a quick link, however all you need to do is create a free account to watch this episode.

Lesson: Job is a controversial book. The subject matter is very challenging to accept that God would actually allow this to happen. So some have come to the conclusion that Job is a work of poetry and was not based on events that actually happened. I myself have not come down on a conclusion to this.

On the one hand we do see a great amount of suffering going on around the world. God does allow that to happen, we can witness that ourselves. On the other hand it appears that God is allowing this suffering just to prove a point to Satan. Wherever you come down on the debate we can still look at this book as scripture. If you have time read Matthew 4:1-11. This is a short story about Jesus being tested by Satan in the wilderness. It is equally challenging to accept.

The hardest question we have to answer as Christians is: why is there suffering? The book of Job leads us to believe that maybe the answer will come at the end of the book, but it never does. I have made some of my own conclusions about suffering. They are not easy to accept either.

1) We are sinners and we deserve it. We deserve suffering and eternal damnation; sorry to burst your bubble but you are a sinner. This is hard to accept because we can look around and see that suffering is not equally applied. It's easy to think that the evilest people in the world often have the greatest amount of comfort. Two problems with that; we are judging them through our own eyes as to what the greatest evil is and we probably don’t see what their suffering actually is.

2) If we don’t know what suffering is we won’t know what joy is. I had the youth make a list of things that could happen to you and had them rank them from best to worst. Then I asked them to draw a line where anything below that line should not happen. They put the line somewhere below having homework and above breaking your arm. So the worst thing in life that can happen to you is getting homework. My point is we are always going to think that the worst thing that can happen to us is evil. What if God did draw a line and is protecting us from a great number of evil things we can’t even comprehend?

We apply this same idea of no joy without suffering to a number of things. “No pain, no gain.” “The greater the risk, the greater the reward.” So why shouldn't it apply here?

3) God wants us involved in helping other people. I find it interesting that God is not mentioned in the book of Esther. This was of course intentional. Maybe it's because this book is a reminder to focus on what it is that we are supposed to do ourselves to prevent and end the suffering of others.

4) There is an unknown purpose. I believe that we will know that answer to this question. We will not know it until we are in heaven but we will know it. Jesus talked more about the kingdom of heaven than any other subject. The point is that the kingdom of heaven is the end goal. Suffering may not have a purpose on Earth but I bet it serves a purpose. We are still offered comfort on this side of heaven. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Discussion: Many people have left the faith over bad answers to this question. My answers to the questions of suffering are not great, and don’t really offer comfort to those who are in the midst of suffering. So it’s a challenge. How would you answer this question, why is there suffering?

Session 27: What are Psalms and Proverbs?
Guided Reading: Psalms and Proverbs

No, you do not need to read all of these two books. Proverbs has 31 and Psalms has 150 chapters! While Psalms, by far, has the most chapters, both Genesis and Jeremiah are actually longer by word count, that is if we look at the original language. Anyway skim over both books and see what catches your eye. (The 23rd Psalms is very popular).

Watch Yourself: Overview of Psalms:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9phNEaPrv8  
Overview of Proverbs:
ww.youtube.com/watch?v=AzmYV8GNAIM

Kids Zone: Try to memorize the 23rd Psalm. You can do it!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=whM9X_H20Oc

ww.youtube.com/watch?v=TeAQOqs6nCE

Lesson: Since you attend Good Shepherd Church, hopefully you know that the Good Shepherd that we get our church name from refers to Jesus. In the 23 Psalm we read that the Lord is our Shepherd.

John 10:11-16; 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

Both the 23 Psalm and these verses in John speak about a relationship between a shepherd and a farmer. This relationship is a good relationship and one of caring. It compares the actions of a shepherd to that of the Lord, Jesus.

So most of the comparisons make perfect sense. I can easily picture a shepherd guiding his sheep to pastures, use the staff to scare off predators, but then it refers to anointing with oil. It’s a little strange to dump oil on your sheep’s head.

I grew up on an organic dairy farm. We weren't allowed to use pesticides or anything like that so the fly problem got pretty bad. We introduced other pests that would destroy fly larva. Another thing we did was spray the cows down with essential oil. We used cedar wood, lemongrass, and spearmint essential oils. The purpose of these oils was to keep flies away and it worked pretty well. A shepherd in Biblical times would also put oil on sheep's heads to keep flies out of their face, nose, and eyes. Using oil on a sheep's head would have brought about great healing and comfort to them. These pests drive sheep crazy. I have seen the same thing with cows. They swat their tails constantly until we spray them with the oil. It calms them down and you are less likely to get hit with a tail while you are milking them.

In this same way Jesus brings us ultimate healing and comfort. A Good Shepherd would care for his flock and would do something about its suffering. And that Jesus has! Because of him we will be able to have complete healing and comfort from our suffering.

Worship Zone: Healing Rain
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo1bjTOFbZA