Esther 10
10:1 King Ahasuerus then imposed forced labor on the land and on the coastlands of the sea. 2Now all the actions carried out under his authority and his great achievements, along with an exact statement concerning the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king promoted, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia? 3Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus. He was the highest-ranking Jew, and he was admired by his numerous relatives. He worked enthusiastically for the good of his people and was an advocate for the welfare of all his descendants.
(NET Bible)Ps. 62
62:1 For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.
For God alone I patiently wait;
he is the one who delivers me.
2He alone is my protector and deliverer.
He is my refuge; I will not be upended.
3How long will you threaten a man like me?
All of you are murderers,
as dangerous as a leaning wall or an unstable fence.
4They spend all their time planning how to bring their victim down.
They love to use deceit;
they pronounce blessings with their mouths,
but inwardly they utter curses. (Selah)
5Patiently wait for God alone, my soul!
For he is the one who gives me hope.
6He alone is my protector and deliverer.
He is my refuge; I will not be shaken.
7God delivers me and exalts me;
God is my strong protector and my shelter.
8Trust in him at all times, you people!
Pour out your hearts before him.
God is our shelter. (Selah)
9Men are nothing but a mere breath;
human beings are unreliable.
When they are weighed in the scales,
all of them together are lighter than air.
10Do not trust in what you can gain by oppression.
Do not put false confidence in what you can gain by robbery.
If wealth increases, do not become attached to it.
11God has declared one principle;
two principles I have heard:
God is strong,
12and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love.
For you repay men for what they do.
(NET Bible)2 Thess. 1:1–12
1:1 From Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
3We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith flourishes more and more and the love of each one of you all for one another is ever greater. 4As a result we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you are enduring.
5This is evidence of God’s righteous judgment, to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which in fact you are suffering. 6For it is right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7and to you who are being afflicted to give rest together with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. 8With flaming fire he will mete out punishment on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9They will undergo the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength, 10when he comes to be glorified among his saints and admired on that day among all who have believed—and you did in fact believe our testimony. 11And in this regard we pray for you always, that our God will make you worthy of his calling and fulfill by his power your every desire for goodness and every work of faith, 12that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
(NET Bible)Luther was not unaware of the difficulties that arise when parallel passages in the Gospels are compared with each other. So in the Lenten Postil, of 1525, he discusses the order of time in the three temptations of our Lord. He makes this statement: “The order in which these temptations came to Christ cannot be determined with certainty, for the evangelists do not agree. What Matthew places in the middle, Luke places at the end, and what he places in the middle, Matthew places at the end, as though he placed little importance on the order. If we want to preach about it or discuss it, the order of Luke would be the best, for it makes a fine sequence that the devil first attacks through need and misfortune and, when this does not bring results, follows with fortune and honor. Finally, when this is all in vain, he strikes out with all force with errors, lies, and other spiritual deceits. But because they do not occur thus in our daily experience, but, as it happens, a Christian is tempted now with the last, now with the first, Matthew did not pay much attention to the order, as would be fitting for a preacher. And perhaps Christ was so tempted during the forty days that the devil did not observe any particular order but came today with the one temptation, tomorrow with the other, after ten days again with the first and so on as it happened to take place.” (45)
–Johann Michael Reu, Luther on the Scriptures
This daily Bible reading guide, Reading the Word of God, was conceived and prepared as a result of the ongoing discussions between representatives of three church bodies: Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The following individuals have represented their church bodies and approved this introduction and the reading guide: LCC: President Robert Bugbee; NALC: Bishop John Bradosky, Revs. Mark Chavez, James Nestingen, and David Wendel; LCMS: Revs. Albert Collver, Joel Lehenbauer, John Pless, and Larry Vogel.