For such a time as this. – Esther 4:14
Esther 3:8-13
8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain.”
9 “If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed.”
13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children,
Esther 4:11-15
11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that for any man or woman who comes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, he has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out to him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days.”
12 They related Esther’s words to Mordecai.
13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews.
14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
“God is never bound by our faithlessness or cowardice. He desires to use us to bless His people, but if we fail to trust Him, He will use someone else. But He will always accomplish His will” (Stanley).
Throughout history, people overcame fear and rose to the occasion. They chose to risk their safety, their families, and their very lives to act on behalf of endangered, marked-for-death Jewish people. Unlike Queen Esther, these heroic people were not Jewish. Regardless of their ethnicity, they chose to protect and save the children of Israel who were threatened and imperiled. Consider Oskar Schindler (Schindler’s List), Corrie ten Boom, or the entire nation of Albania during World War II.
At Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Israel, there is a garden, The Righteous Among the Nations. His purpose is to remember and honor those men and women who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jewish people.
Esther had choices. She could’ve reasoned that she might escape the genocidal decree of King Ahasuerus to annihilate the Jewish people in Persia by simply hiding her Jewish ethnicity. Mordecai was quite clear that such a plan would not succeed.
Under the threat of death, with the outcome unknown, she chose to risk it all. Why? Because she realized that the Father had placed her in the palace, as queen of Persia, for such a time as this. The book of Esther is the only book in the Old Testament that does not have the word God and it. Yet the Father is present on every page. He is working behind the scenes invisibly without a spoken word to achieve His perfect plan. When a child of the King becomes convinced of this fact in their own mind, they realize that they are invincible until the will of the Father is accomplished in and through them.
Esther came to this realization. She is ready to die to save her people, the Jewish people. Her words echo down through the centuries to inspire every child of the King.
Esther 4:16 If I perish, I perish.
But there’s more. Once we are convinced of what is right for us to do, we are compelled to do it or we willfully sin.
James 4:17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
REFLECT & PRAY
It is always right to do right. The Father places each child of the King in His kingdom at the appropriate time in history to accomplish His will through and in them on earth as it is in heaven. For some of us, that time is special and obvious, “For such a time as this.”
Father, help me to be sensitive to Your guidance to know when and how to act. Strengthen me to be “all in” no matter what.
INSIGHT
Fear is a natural and normal human emotion. It often provides the adrenaline necessary to fight or take flight.
“When something threatens our lives, we naturally feel great fear. There is no sin in this. It’s how we respond to that fear – with a courageous trust in God or a spineless desire for self-preservation – that makes the difference” (Stanley).
What is fear? We all know what it is like to be afraid. Fear is emotional foreboding or dread of impending trouble or sorrow. Fear can result from real dangers or challenges. Fear can also be the result of imaginary dangers or challenges. This type of fear has no objective or logical basis. It is irrational. But it is real fear nonetheless to the one who experiences it.
Fear whether it is rational or irrational can be exchanged with faith and confidence, and the reverential fear of the Father our awesome God.
Where did fear begin? The Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve chose to disobey the Father, they lost their innocence. As a consequence, sin was introduced into the human race. With sin came fear.
Genesis 3:7-10
7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the LORD God among the trees.
9 Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”
Fear often immobilizes people, particularly when unrighteousness bubbles up from within.
Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flees when there is no one pursuing, but the righteous is as confident as a lion.
All children of the King have a unique, unsurpassed Redeemer Who in has come into their lives to liberate them from fear. The grip of fear is broken by the Lord Jesus Christ, through His sinless life, redemptive death, and resurrection. He now sits in heavenly places at the right hand of the Father (Ephesians 1:20) making intercession for each child of the King (Hebrews 7:25).
1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, because perfect love expels all fear. . .. the one who fears is not perfected in love.
The Lord Jesus Christ sets us free from fear. He purges each child of the King from a lifetime of fear. We have been liberated once and for all. By faith, we actualize our freedom from fear and newfound confidence.
Jesus Calling November 9
Sit quietly with Me, letting all your fears and worries bubble up to the surface of your consciousness. There, in the Light of My Presence, the bubbles pop and disappear. However, some fears surface over and over again, especially fear of the future. You tend to project yourself mentally into the next day, week, month, year, decade; and you visualize yourself coping badly in those times. What you are seeing is a false image, because it doesn’t include Me. Those gloomy times that you imagine will not come to pass since My Presence will be with you at all times.
When a future-oriented worry assails you, capture it and disarm it by suffusing the Light of My Presence into that mental image. Say to yourself, “Jesus will be with me then and there. With His help, I can cope!” Then, come home to the present moment, where you can enjoy Peace in My Presence.
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Dr H Reflections 