“Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”—Esther 4:13-14
These are the words of Mordecai to Esther, the young woman whom Mordecai had adopted after her parents died. Through divine providence, she was selected by King Ahasuerus to replace his rebellious wife Vashti, and so Esther had access to the king. And when the king agreed to a plot to kill all the Jews in his kingdom, it was Esther who intervened, and the plot was averted. Indeed, she had “come to the kingdom for such a time as this.”
Our role in life is less dramatic, but make no mistake, we also are where we are at this time in history to play a role in God’s eternal plan. You and I could have been born in a different era, or we could have been born in a different country, with different parents and a radically different environment. But we are who we are at this time of history “for such a time as this.”
We all know the words of Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are “saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God.” But the next verse reads, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (v.10).
You and I are God’s workmanship created for this hour in history. Our parents, our upbringing, whether positive or negative, can be redeemed by God’s gracious power so that we can serve Him effectively today. Our gifts, talents, and even our appearance are freely given to us by God, and they are to be used for God’s glory. Envy is a sin because it charges God with unfairness and reveals our unwillingness to accept who and where we are by divine providence.
Are you content with who you are? Do you believe that God can redeem your past so that you can serve Him right now, wherever you might be? Are you angry at “the card you have been dealt” as one person put it?
Let us confess the sin of discontentment and pray that God will help us see that we have a role to play in His kingdom and we were born “for such a time as this.”
Let Us Pray
Father, I pray that I might truly believe that I have been saved with the distinct purpose of serving You with works You have marked out for me. I am Your creation, intended by You to carry out Your plan within my family, my neighborhood, and my country. I am Yours to be used as You will.
I pray for ____that they might accept their lot in life; I pray that they might not envy those who have a more prominent position nor despise those who appear to have a lesser role in life. I pray that no task would be too lowly nor too obscure, but that they might see it as an opportunity to serve You. Let us be content with where You have planted us, believing that we are created for today and that we are being led by Your hand. We are here for “such a time as this.”
In Jesus’ name, Amen.