FOR SUCH A TIME

• DAY 187
• FEAR FILES: ESTHER
• SCRIPTURE: ESTHER 4

Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a command for Mordecai: “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days.” So they told Mordecai Esther’s words.
And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

esther 4:10-14

Yesterday, we looked at how the children of Israel were faced with a national enemy who wanted to annihilate them and how God prepared help ahead of time for them. This help was Esther, and, arguably, Mordecai. But oftentimes the people that God has prepared to bring deliverance may not know that they are the ones that God has prepared. Just like in the case of Moses, Gideon, Joshua, and even Barak. They all did not realize that they were the deliverance and so, God has to quicken and awaken them to go do what He called them to do. Because guess what? They all struggled with it initially. They struggled with fear and unbelief, they found it tough to accept God’s call, and they found it tough to move out in faith until God intervened.

Today we see this same struggle in Esther as she was faced with the reality of this enemy. She was busy trying to help her uncle get out of mourning, change his sack clothes and clean himself up, not knowing that she was their deliverance. Even when her uncle told her “Esther you have to go talk with your husband, tell him that they want to kill you” Esther was too afraid to go. Ahasuerus wasn’t only her husband, he was also the king. There were rules, and protocols in place that frightened her, she was scared for her life. No matter how beautifully she dresses, without the approval of the king, it would be like dressing well to your death.

You Are The Solution

What Esther didn’t see was that her life was still at stake, whether or not she goes to meet the king. She was a Jew, even though she hid it and the decree was to kill all Jews and one day her identity will come to light. So death was the outcome either way. whether at the hand of the king or at the hand of Haman. Her place was no place of safety when doomsday came.

You see, we often do not realize that we could be the one that God has placed for our family’s deliverance. We do not realize that we are probably in that office because we are the ones that God has sent to give hope to the people working there. We do not realize that we are the ones sent to deliver our neighborhood or our nation. And we don’t see that what God put in us is greater than us and that the position, influence, power, and finances that we control, are not necessarily for us but for what God wants to use us to accomplish for His glory.

Help Must Come

Thank God for Mordecai and thank God for the people that God has put around you to speak sense in you, remind you of what’s in you, and awaken you to the reality of your purpose. And I could be one of those people God has sent to you. I could be your Mordecai. I may have been placed in your life to remind you that there is more to you and that position you hold. Mordecai told Esther, “Maybe you were put there for such a time as this.”

God does not make mistakes, He orchestrated everything. Before the enemy arose, he positioned you to be the deliverance. So, stand up and fulfill your destiny. But if you don’t, guess what? Help is going to come from somewhere else, but you will be destroyed. God is going to move on and raise another help for his nation and you are going to be left behind. You are going to be forgotten and forsaken. 

Was that not what happened to the children of Israel? They did not have the courage to go and take the land that God promised them. So they wandered for extra 40 years and wasted their lives in the wilderness. God raised another generation that took the land that he had promised. Look at Abraham’s father, he was set to go to Canaan, but he stopped halfway. And what happened? God raised Abraham because God has plans B’s and C’s down to Z. He’s never out of options. If you ever stop praising him, there is a stone in your backyard that could take your place (Luke 19:40).

Dearly beloved,

Everything you are enjoying now, the position, the glory, even the tough times, is part of a greater plan. God prepared you for this time. So, let this be your clarion call. Now is the time to step into the fullness of what God has called you to do. Step out of fear, Do not be afraid, don’t let fear hold you down, don’t let fear stop you. Do what God has called you to do. 

And as always, pray for his strength and grace.

Shalom.