You know them, those emails that get passed around, with all good intention, to lift you up and feel good. I get them a lot and this past year I have been personally sharing Christ's passion and carrying a cross. At times it is difficult to remember that we need only give Him our troubles and He will gladly carry them for us. We are all human and even some of our Greatest Saints had doubts and times of trouble when they cried out, "Why me Lord?!"
It occurred to me as I was reading a recent email that has been passed around, for quite a while it seems, that the scripture quoted didn't sound right, so I looked it up, and was amazed that the Scripture noted and the words did not go together. Hmmmm
This is what I received:
This is the actual verse: Esther 4: 13(12When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai,
)he had this reply brought to her: “Do not imagine that you are safe in the king’s palace, you alone of all the Jews."
Now the point of this was to show how Esther's faith in God brought her up from a lowly station to Queen, and allowed her to save the people of Israel from certain death. But the words indicated to be the quote by the font used, is not a complete Bible quote either, not even in any one the dozens of versions of the Bible that are on the Internet.
The quote I found is actually from a website, "Godlikeproductions" and I'm not sure it was the actual original post as the person who posted it may have copied it, (and because I found so many with the exact beginning) but it began as a couple of prayers, and with a quote from Jeremiah, not Esther.
The Bible verse comes from the NIV (New International Version) which is very close to the New American Bible that we Catholics use: For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the LORD—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.
This is from the letter that Jeremiah sent to the Elders of the remaining tribe of Israel in exile in Babylon. The Words in the quote were God's and this part was God addressing Jeremiah: oracle of the LORD. In other words instead of saying his name Jeremiah, God was addressing him by God's designation for him, Jeremiah was the Oracle of the Lord, the Speaker for/of the Lord.
See, the "Internet" is just like the game "Gossip", where you start out with a sentence and by the time it makes it around the circle of friends, the sentence has changed. The same thing happens when folks copy and post bits and pieces of things they like from and email or post from a social network. So many people don't even bother to check to see if something is accurate before they forward it on to their friends and family. We MUST be vigilant in making sure that if we quote the Word of God, we get it right because not doing so can lead to more miss-information.
Now here my friend was trying to lift me up, and the prayer was lovely in itself and when several people pray together, the words are lifted up to the Lord and He hears them, so I am blessed by the prayers that were lifted up for me, and I thank God daily for the wonderful friends that He has placed in my path, to bless me and for me to bless.
Now here is a closing Psalm that my Pastor uses when beginning a meeting or bible/book study:
Psalm 46:11 “Be still and know that I am God!
Father begins by asking us to be quiet and clear our thoughts, come to focus on now and leave those thoughts of work and worry and focus on being with God. After each statement we sit quietly for a couple moments.
“Be still and know that I am God!"
“Be still and know that I am"
“Be still and know"
“Be still"
“Be"
Try this the next time you read from the Bible, or Pray or meditate, and you will find it is a wonderful way to calm yourself and focus!
Blessings!,
The Catholic Lady ©
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