"For Such A Time As This"

"...And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"

Over the weekend we went to OKC to visit Megan and Cori. Yesterday we went with them to church at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene where pastor David Busik was finishing a sermon series on great stories from the Bible. His message was from the book of Esther and by his own admission was a story that most of us knew from childhood Sunday School lessons. But then God stepped in and made the old new again, and the story as told by a master story teller became relevant for all of us in the sanctuary.

I won't spend time telling the story here, although I do encourage you to go and read it again, for the first time. However, the gist of the story is that God had placed a young lady in just the right place at just the right time. Although the circumstances were difficult, difficult to the point of potential death, and she was the least likely of heroes, she was reminded by her guardian Mordecai that "who knows but that you have come to this place (royal position) for such a time as this."

That's a powerful statement, one that has had my attention since Pastor Busik read it aloud. The end of the story finds Esther bringing justice to an unjust situation and lifting others, Mordecai and the Jewish people, to a place of security and peace. Without her intervention, Mordecai and all the Jews in that region, including Esther, would have surely perished. Now, make no mistake, this was no easy task and meant getting involved in a situation that was horribly fearful, and rightly so. But through prayer Esther believed Mordecai was right and that God had indeed placed her in that very position at that very moment, for "such a time as this."

I don't know where you're at in life. I don't know if the waters you're traveling are rough, or if the sea is smooth right now. But I do agree with Pastor Busik in that each of us has, is, or will face "such a time as this," some of us many times over. Could it be that we need to stop for a moment and reflect on the circumstances of life and ask if God has indeed placed me in this position "for such a time as this?"

We tend to want to run, leave it up to someone else, ignore it, or complain, none of which honors God. Mordecai's challenge to Esther may be God's challenge to us. You're time in that circumstance may be short or many years in developing, but to know that God has entrusted you with "such a time as this" is an overwhelming feeling.

I've been praying about my own life since yesterday morning and wondering about "such a time as this." What are you doing with the time you've been given. As Gandolf said in Lord of the Rings, "it is not up to us to decide the time, but to decide what to do with the time we've been given." Sounds to me like J.R.R. Tolkien had read the book of Esther.

What are you going to do with "such a time as this?"

Lead Strong,

Shawn