Such a Time as This
“For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” - Esther 4:14
Esther is such an interesting book, and I highly recommend you read the whole thing. The long and short of it is that King gets angry with his wife and divorces her (for lack of a better term) and a young Jewish woman named Esther becomes the Queen. When Haman, a servant of the King, plots to destroy all the Jewish people, Esther’s Uncle says this verse to her. He had asked her to go to the King for help but she was afraid and Mordecai’s words echo through the ages, “If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” For such a time as this is such a powerful statement. Let’s look at our time shall we...
- We live in a divided nation
- We see worldwide political upheaval and corruption
- We have experienced a Global Pandemic and everything that has brought
- We hear about war and savage acts against our own people and others
- We know of famine and disease
- We are experiencing hurricanes and earthquakes
- We see the decline in the Church, both attendance and belief in Jesus
- We see sin running rampant with no repentance
- There is the foolishness of politically motivated racism and cancel culture
- There is bias and corruption in every form of media
- So on and so forth...
I could obviously continue on but you get the picture. Here is my encouragement, you are not an accident, you are not in the time or place you are in because God made a mistake. No, God made a strategic insertion. He made you when He did, He put you where you are, He did so at the exact time He meant to do so, For Such a Time as This. Nothing God does is on accident, and nothing He does is without purpose. God is sovereign, and everything He does is for a very specific purpose, what we have to decide is what we will do. We are like Esther, our choices do not negate the sovereignty of God, He would have delivered the Jews from Haman with or without Esther. But Esther made the choice to do what God was calling her to do, to take advantage of the place and time where God had placed her. We have the same choice before us. We are exactly when and where God wants us to be and God has a plan and purpose for this time. The question is, what will we do? Are we going to take up our cross obediently following after the plan and purpose for God in our lives? Or, are we going to shrink back and watch the world burn? None of us are perfect, nor can any one of us do everything that needs to be done. But we can do what God has uniquely created us to do (Ephesians 2:10) in the time and place where He created us to do it (Esther 4:14) knowing that He is at work in us (Philippians 1:6) and He will work all things out for our good (Romans 8:28). That my brothers and sisters should be very encouraging to each of us. Let me leave you today with a verse from Isaiah 41:10...
“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”
Image Borrowed from Mexperience.com
