We are now in the final month on the Hebrew calendar, called Adar. The meaning of Adar is strength, and it is the month of completion. When we finish the year in strength, we prepare to enter our next season to receive the blessings God has in store for us.
 
The dominant event that occurred during the month of Adar is when Queen Esther saved her people, the Jews. She was one of many beautiful virgins brought into the haram of King Xerxes because of her great beauty. Esther entered the palace in the month of Tevet, the tenth month on the Hebrew calendar, and was able to gain the favor of Hegai, the eunuch charged with overseeing the beauty preparation of the women. Because of her humility and respect for Hegai, he moved Esther into "the best place in the house of the women." (Esther 2:9) There she began twelve months of beauty treatments.
 
God had a plan for Esther that would "test her mettle." She would need courage and strength and the ability to overcome adversity. Candice Smithyman's book, 365 Prophetic Revelations from the Hebrew Calendar says, "We are never truly promoted until we are faced with a situation where we have to stand for righteousness..." (Page 339) So it was with Esther. It came to her attention that the King's most honored noble, Haman, was plotting to destroy all the Jews in the kingdom of Xerxes. (127 provinces from India to Ethiopia) It was determined that this would happen in the month of Adar through casting the Pur or lot. Esther's cousin, Mordecai, warned her by saying, "If you remain silent at this time, relief or deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"
 
Esther was about to be promoted. She had been positioned to make a change in King Xerxes's kingdom. The prophet Kim Clement said before he died, "Your destiny dictates your present circumstances." How true this was for Esther! She would be tested in her faith and would need to stand strong in her battle against the enemy of her people. Fasting and prayer became the order of the day as Esther asked her people to join her in this. She was given a strategy to prepare a lavish banquet for the king where he would be overjoyed with her attention. In return she requested that the king grant her life. She added, "And spare my people--this is my request. For I and my people have been sold for destruction and slaughter and annihilation." (Esther 7:3 and 4)
 
Haman came to the end of his road, and a gallows that he built for Mordecai was used to hang him. An order was written to override Haman's which would allow the Jews to assemble and protect themselves and to plunder the property of their enemies. Mordecai became second in rank to the king. Queen Esther and Mordecai designated Adar 14 and 15 as day for a yearly time of celebration of the victory for the Jewish people. Today, Purim, as it is called, is still celebrated by Jews all over the world.
 
What can we learn about this month that will impact how we live in Adar? This is a time for us to develop war strategies against our enemies. Those enemies could be physical or spiritual. God will be pleased to help us in this endeavor as we ask Him. He has already given us the mighty weapon of His Word. We should break wrong decrees spoken over us with the truth of God's Word and persevere until the battle is won. We must remember that the favor of our King Jesus will overturn every curse. When a curse is overturned the door of our destinies will be opened. 

Every year Jewish synagogues read through the first five books of the Bible or Torah, written by Moses. There are fifty-four sections to the weekly Torah portions. These portions or sections are called Parashat. Each Parashat is named after a significant word at the beginning of the section to be read. Last week's portion is named Mishpatim for laws, judgments, or ordinances. This eighteenth Parashat covers Exodus 21:1 through Exodus 24:18. It contains a detailed system of rules for the people that include the civil code, social justice commands, ways for ethical living, and ways to apply the Divine law to everyday life.
 
In Parashat Mishpatim we see that one of the ways that God determines faithfulness to His covenant is how we treat one another, even enemies. Moses wrote how justice should be lived out in daily life. We have in this portion of Scripture an invitation to live in ways that reflect His justice and compassion. God wants us to remember that even our enemies are made in His image. In God's Kingdom, justice, and mercy work together.
 
God brings us into situations where we get to quietly attest to our faithfulness to His commands. One such situation is written about in Exodus 23:4 and 5. "If you come across your enemy's ox or his donkey wandering off, be sure to take it back to him. If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there. Be sure you help him with it." We reflect the Lord to our neighbors, strangers, and adversaries by how we treat them." 
 
God leads us on the path of humility in our day-to-day experiences. There is a Hebrew word used only ten times in the Scriptures. That word, zud, means to boil up, seethe, or arrogance. When we allow arrogance to bubble up it leads us to behave in a way that does not honor God. We read that Nehemiah led the Israelites in confession of their sins. He reminded them of this: "But they, our forefathers, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and did not obey Your commands. They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles You performed among them..." (Nehemiah 9:16 and 17) He commands us to even protect the property of those who oppose us. Humility helps us cool down the arrogance of wanting to do things our way so that it does not bubble up and explode in anger.
 
Our behavior is shaped in the heart and manifests through physical action. We must ask ourselves, "What is brewing in my heart, and does it reflect the One True God that I worship?" We must follow the instruction given in Colossians 3:5. "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature..." Considering this week's instruction in Parashat Mishpatim, let us make David's prayer in Psalm 19:14 our own. "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer."

Environmentalist Rachel Carson said, "Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life." It is incumbent on us to deliberately slow down to contemplate the creativity and majesty of the Lord. Doing this puts life into perspective and repositions us to renew our awe of God.
 
Sadly, I believe that our society has lost its awe of God. David's Psalm 8 reminds us of the Lord's excellence. "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor...O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!" (Verses 3-5, 9 - NKJ) When I want to reinvigorate my awe of God at this time of the year, I look outside at the snow-covered ground and am reminded that every one of the millions of snowflakes is unique.
 
Henry David Thoreau says it so well in writing about snowflakes: "How full of the creative genius is the air in which these are generated! I should hardly admire more if real stars fell and lodged on my coat. Nature is full of genius, full of divinity: so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand." As I contemplate this statement, I look at a book that I have come to treasure over the years. It shows me individual pictures of over one hundred snowflakes. The author of the book called The Little Book of Snowflakes, Kenneth Libbrecht, explains that the images are of "freshly fallen snowflakes, captured using a special photo-microscope. The most symmetrical crystals are usually found during light snowfalls, with little wind, when the weather is especially cold."
 
Mr. Libbrecht includes some interesting information about snowflakes in his book. He writes, "Many well-formed snowflakes have six nearly symmetrical branches. Sometimes you may find twelve-branched snowflakes as well. One thing you will not find falling from the sky is an eight-sided snowflake...A symmetrical snowflake is not a frozen raindrop, but rather a single crystal of ice that grows directly from water vapor in the air. The process takes about fifteen minutes, as the snowflake slowly drifts to earth...We do not yet understand all the subtle mysteries of snowflakes. Exactly how the simple interactions of water molecules produce such a dramatic diversity of structures remains a puzzle."
 
The author of my snowflake book is optimistic in his evaluation that scientists do “not yet understand the subtle mysteries of snowflakes." I believe this is a mystery of God that we should accept and then let it grow into an amazing awe of who He is and what He has done. God has left us clues about Himself in what He has created. I am reminded of the song, "How Great Thou Art." "O Lord, my God, when I, in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made. I see the stars; I hear the rolling thunder; Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee. How great Thou art, how great Thou art." Why not spend this week contemplating the mysteries of God? It will increase our awe of Him. 

​The Church is defined as the Bride of Christ and Christ as our Bridegroom. Our time on earth is meant as a time of preparation so that we can present our lives to the Bridegroom as pure and spotless just as our spirits are now. The season of preparation can be difficult because it involves sacrifice and discipline. God's people, whose stories are told in the Bible, had to spend time in the wilderness. This is the place where we learn to focus on the Bridegroom. That means we must be willing to leave familiar places to follow the Holy Spirit into the wilderness.
 
One of the women in the Bible who exemplifies this bride is Rebekah. Before we meet her in the Bible, we read the story of Abraham and how he was preparing for his death. His servant, Eliezer (meaning "God is my help"), was directed to travel to Abraham's homeland to find a wife for his son, Isaac. The woman he would bring back had to be willing to follow him. In other words, she had to follow him into the wilderness. In this story, Eliezer represents the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is looking for a pure, virgin bride who is not enticed by the gods of this world.
 
Before meeting Rebekah, Eliezer had a talk with God and asked Him to bring him a woman who had a servant's heart, came from a godly family, and would be willing to leave her family to follow him. This expectation for Isaac's wife sounds like what Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 10:37-39. "Anyone who loves his father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."
 
Eliezer was able to see Rebekah's servant heart when he met her at the well. Not only did she give him a drink, but she also offered to water his camels. Imagine how long it took her to draw water for ten thirsty camels! Next, her brother Laban came to the well and invited Eliezer to bring his camels to their home. As food was being prepared and set before him, Eliezer insisted on telling Rebekah's family the reason for his journey. They agreed that she should go back to Abraham's son. Rebekah sealed the deal when she agreed to go and said, "I will go." (Genesis 24:58)
 
Rebekah was sent off with a family blessing. "Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies." (Genesis 24:60) This would not be an easy journey for Rebekah. I read that she would have had to travel about 600 miles on a camel. She left her place of comfort to be tested in the hot, dry desert. During the journey, Eliezer, her Holy Spirit, helped to prepare her for her commitment to Isaac, her bridegroom. Once Rebekah made her commitment to Isaac, she would have another wilderness to traverse—the wilderness of barrenness. Isaac was sixty years old before she gave birth to twins. It was Rebekah's faith that sustained her until the promise of her family blessing was realized.
 
All of us must go through wilderness seasons in our lives. God will use these seasons to develop our character and to teach us how to overcome the giants that war against our souls. It is vital that we keep our eyes on the Lord and remember the promises that He has given to us. He has planned every portion of our wilderness journey, knows what we are experiencing, and what we need to move through it. The Lord will teach us how to pursue His heart and follow Him no matter what the cost. There is an end to every wilderness, and God wants us to exit it leaning on Him, our Beloved, not leaning on our own understanding. (Song of Solomon 8:5)