For a Time Like This

Readings:
Esther 4
Romans 13:1-6

Focus:
Esther 14:b: "And who knows whether it is not for a time like this that you have become queen?"

In ancient days, the Jewish people had been conquered and taken into exile by the Babylonians. The Babylonians had in turn been conquered by the Persians. Then, in this Persian kingdom, through a complicated chain of circumstances, Esther, one of the exiled Jewish people, had chanced to become queen, though the king does not know that she is Jewish.

Now because of some devious machinations, a plot has been laid and all Jewish people are scheduled to be slaughtered. Esther's uncle Mordecai asks her to intercede with the king, but she replies that no one has the right to go unbidden into the king's presence; anyone who does so risks death.

But Mordecai tells her that she has a duty to help save her people, and then he tells her that it is perhaps for this very reason--for such a time as this--that she has become queen. And Esther agrees to speak to the king.

This is a significant way to look at occasional circumstances in our own lives. We may find ourselves, at intervals, at crossroads where we may be able to take some action that will make a difference. We should think carefully at such times. Could it be that it is for this very reason, for such a time as this, that we find ourselves at a particular time and place? Could God have brought us to this time and place because he has something that he wants us to do? We must always look for God's purpose for us; this always comes first before our own purposes.