JOHN SHIRK – In the Year of Exploration, today’s Reason to Believe is the Feast of Purim.

This Jewish festival remembers their deliverance from a threat to annihilate them under the Persian empire.

As the book of Esther recalls, a man named Haman devised a plot to wipe out the Jews, but Queen Esther was in a royal position for such a time to call her people to fasting and prayer. As it turned out, the plot had a boomerang effect on **Haman. The plot of destruction that he had planned for the Jews ended in his own death.

Purim was recently celebrated on the Jewish calendar, remembering this event.

The reason why this is observed is recorded for us in Esther 9:28: “These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never cease to be celebrated by the Jews, nor should the memory of them die out among their descendants.”

Purim celebrates deliverance from the hands of the enemy. This is ultimately what Jesus Christ does for us when we call on His name.

The Feast of Purim is a reason to believe in God’s good news.

John Shirk

john@wjtl.com