March 18, 2024 - Esther 4:14

“If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” Esther 4:14 NLT

Lord, reading the book of Esther can seem like reading a book for story time. It makes a good story and reading it from the outside as looking at it in the past, it makes it easy to see your hand over her life. You obviously set it all up and put her in that place for a purpose. After this comment from Mordecai she walked in that purpose. We can read this and think of course she did, it was so clearly laid out that you made her queen for that reason. But Lord, to have actually lived it in that moment, we can understand her fear and uncertainty. It could have easily cost her her life.

Lord, we know that you have created each of us for a purpose as well. Maybe it isn’t one big moment like Esther that determined if the Jews lived or died, but it can determine if some people will spend eternity in heaven or hell. What if there are people out there who need to know you and we are the one person that they will listen to about you? What happens if we don’t walk in obedience to what you ask? Your ways will not always look totally obvious in the moment. Your still small voice can sometimes get drowned out by our desires and fears. We can make all kinds of excuses of why what you are asking of us isn’t a good idea. Your plans could cost us something and are we willing to pay that price?

Lord, we want to be willing to answer “yes” to anything you ask of us. We want to be willing to pay any price we need to pay to walk in obedience. We don’t want our fears or our own desires to drown out your voice. Holy Spirit, be with us and help us always be ready for however many “such a time as this” moments you place in our lives.

In Jesus name, amen.