When Mordecai sent a messenger to tell his cousin Queen Esther whom he had essentially raised to go before her husband the King to plead for the saving of their Jewish people, Queen Esther responded by messenger that she could lose her life by going before the King outside of proper protocol. Mordecai made it clear she could lose her life anyway because the Jews would all be killed if she did not intercede for them before the King. But this was not all he said. The message he sent to her is a message for us all.
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What if the very reason Queen Esther had become Queen and thereby entered into the Kingdom was for the purpose of going before the King to help save the Jews? It was possible, Mordecai told her, that her very purpose at this very point in time was this enormous. A whole people could be saved because at this very time she was exactly where she was.
Queen Esther laid down her life. She yielded her life at this very point in time to the purpose she was given. She was willing to sacrifice her life and whatever plans and purpose she might have had in her own mind as Queen to submit to the instructions she had been given. Her sacrifice at this very point in time became the vehicle through which the Jewish people were saved and their enemies destroyed.
How often do we miss our opportunities to love and serve the Lord at a given point in time because we do not realize that God might have a much greater purpose for the situation, circumstance, relationships, places, jobs, schools, whatever we might find ourselves in than we can possibly imagine? Is it possible that what in our human eyes may seem like an utterly random trip to the store, random stranger that we meet, random relationship we find ourselves in, random job we would prefer to leave behind, random challenge we face, random traffic jam we find ourselves in with a co-worker in the passenger seat, random person we meet at the shopping mall, seemingly random whatever it is, may in fact be an amazing opportunity – a time appointed by the Lord for something enormous, significant, meaningful, etc. to happen according to His purpose and for His glory?
We must do as Esther did. We must lay down our lives for the Lord. We must give up our own selfish ways, plans, purposes, agendas, etc., and submit ourselves to the Lord. We must yield our lives to Him moment by moment, seeking Him, studying His Word, making necessary changes in our lives, and be ever open to how God might want to use us in any given moment. Even this one.
Are you yielded to the Lord? Could this be “such a time as this”? Is it possible a situation, relationship, challenge, etc. you find yourself in right now might be such a time as this? Is it possible God has led you into it for a purpose greater than you can see? Open your eyes. Open your heart. Open the Bible. Seek His face. Pray. Listen. Obey. If God has led you into whatever you are in right now, don’t miss His purpose in it. Yield yourself to Him. And if God has not led you where you are, repent and return. Listen and follow. Live to love Him. Live to please Him. Live to bring Him praise, honor and glory.
And don’t miss it. Such a time as this. Wherever He wants you. For His glory!
READING: THE BOOK OF ESTHER. You can read this in your own Bible. Or you can read it online at https://www.biblehub.com.
Est 4:14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?