For Such a Time

“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. 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?’” Esther 4:13-14 (NASB)

What did this phrase really mean? Esther was a beautiful woman that King Ahasuerus chose to be his queen. She was what we would call “introduced” to the king by her “adopted” father, Mordecai. Both Esther and Mordecai were from a “certain group of people.”

King Ahasuerus gave a man named Haman permission to kill “a certain group of people” whose beliefs and laws were different than theirs. People from that “certain group” were overcome with a very great sadness when the new law arrived. They spent their days weeping and crying (Esther 4:3).

Mordecai told Esther to go to the King to try to save their people. Esther said she couldn’t because the King could kill her if she went to him without an invitation. Mordecai kind of called her out and if you don’t go to talk to the king, all of us will die and you would not escape. Through those telling words, he reminded her she had been chosen to set her own interests aside, let go of her own ambitions, and face an enemy full-on.

She was to risk her life and her legacy with no guarantees of a positive outcome. That’s the “for such a time as this” Mordecai challenged Esther to accept.

“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. 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?’” (Esther 4:13-14)

And that’s the “for such a time as this” God also sets before you and me.

God has given each of us a job, position, resources, education and more. God has opened opportunities to optimize His kingdom purposes. He didn’t place you or me where we are so we could eat candy bars all day long or post pictures on social media. He’s placed us wherever we are because we are in the midst of a battle, a war. You and I are in the midst of a seismic conflict involving good versus evil.

Lord, turn my heart and my mind toward You and toward the role You have chosen for me to live out. Help me to put Your will and Your purpose ahead of my own. I humbly bow before You and ask for Your direction and guidance, as well as Your courage to live out the calling I’ve been given for such a time as this. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.