“Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur” (Esther 9:26 ESV). The author of Esther told his Jewish readers why the annual feast of Purim received its name. “Pur” meant “lot,” referring to the lots Haman had cast to determine the day on which he planned to destroy the Jews. But what Haman

“How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings” (Psalm 36:7 ESV). David had just described the deceitfulness and wickedness of sinful people. Then he lifted his eyes from the character of the wicked to the character of God. He had declared that Gods

How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions! (Psalm 35:17 ESV). David wrote this psalm while surrounded by enemies who had repaid his kindness with betrayal. He addressed God directly, crying out with a raw and honest question. Notice what David did not ask.

Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love (Nehemiah 13:22 ESV). Nehemiah wrote these words as a governor returning to a city

“And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem” (Nehemiah 11:2 ESV). Nehemiah recorded how the people of Israel repopulated Jerusalem after the wall had been rebuilt. Some were chosen by lot to move into the city, while others willingly offered to live there. Jerusalem was still vulnerable, and living

“I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1 ESV). David wrote Psalm 34 after escaping from the Philistine king by pretending to be insane. He had been afraid, and his behavior was hardly heroic. Yet when David looked back on the experience, he did not

“You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst” (Nehemiah 9:20 ESV). Nehemiah recorded the Levites’ prayer as they rehearsed God’s faithfulness before the assembled people of Israel. Looking back on Israel’s wilderness years, they remembered that God had not

“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host” (Psalm 33:6 ESV). The psalmist called God’s people to praise the LORD by reminding them of His awesome power in creation. The heavens did not come into existence through physical effort. God simply spoke, and

“This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short” (1 Corinthians 7:29 ESV). Writing to the believers in Corinth, Paul urged them to live with an eternal perspective. When he wrote that “the appointed time has grown very short,” he was not necessarily predicting that only a few years remained before

“Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!” (Psalm 31:19 ESV). David wrote to God’s people as one who had experienced fear, rejection, slander, and danger, yet had also experienced