A Time Like This

The Old Testament book of Esther is a wonderful love story—a story of what God did in the life of a woman to literally save a nation. Esther was a Jew who was plucked out of obscurity through an unusual chain of events and made queen over the kingdom. Meanwhile, a wicked man named Haman had been devising a plot to put to death the 15 million Jews in that kingdom. So Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, came to the palace, wanting Esther to use her influence to help her people.

He sent word to Esther, “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. 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 4:13–14).

Wherever you may find yourself today, know that God has put you where you are for such a time as this. He has put you in that job or at that school. He has put you in that neighborhood. There are opportunities to seize. You need to take hold of them.

Yet the dilemma of Esther is similar to that of many believers today. They have been delivered from sin. They have found safety in the church. And they have grown lazy. They have no vision. Of course, the devil is happy with this, because that is exactly how he wants Christians to live. Be a complacent, apathetic Christian, and the devil will be generally pleased.