The book of Esther has always been one of my favorite stories. It’s kind of a Cinderella story if you think about it. A simple, orphaned Jewish girl is raised from anonymity to the heights of the kingdom when she catches the eye of the king. The problem comes when she hides her background. No one but her uncle knows that she is actually Jewish, and her Uncle Mordecai wants something BIG from Esther. There’s a bad guy in the story and he wants to kill all of the Jews. Mordecai thinks that Esther can get the king to save them all, but if he is wrong then she and all of the Jews will die.
Woo! That’s a lot to have on one person’s shoulders. Naturally Esther protests that she can’t do it. And then Mordecai says it, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and 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 your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14)
For such a time as this. What a profound phrase. It resonates with you when you are a Believer. Just this week God smacked me over the head with it not once, but three times. I prayed with a complete stranger over a sick child--perhaps I was at just the right place for such a time as this. As I told the story to a group, a friend stood up and said God told her to share those exact words with the group of kids she was working with--maybe we are here for such a time as this. And then today as I had a small pity party for myself a complete stranger walked over to me, handed me a bouquet of flowers, and prayed for me--and God whispered in my ear “for such a time as this.”
There is power in obedience, folks. When we are obedient to the whisper of the Holy Spirit God is able to use us in magnificent ways for his kingdom. We may never know why we are in the circumstances we are in, but just maybe it’s so that God can make beauty from ashes. Just maybe, it’s for such a time as this.
