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For Such a Time as This

by Travis Tamerius

Reprinted from Grace Notes, July 1996.

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The Jews were far from home. They had been exiled to a distant land by the marauding raids of Assyrian forces in fulfillment of the sovereign design of Almighty God who was disciplining His chosen people. Questions filled their minds. How were they to understand the covenant made with Abraham and the provision of a land of promise when they had now lost their homeland? How were they to view the Davidic covenant when they had been removed from the Temple as the sacred site of worship? Even more basic, what were they to think of God and the covenant He had made with them when the dissolution of the covenanted people seemed to be inevitable?

And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

In the book of Esther, we find God providentially confirming His covenant with His people by delivering them during a most perilous time. Haman, the evil-plotting Persian prime minister, prevailed upon King Xerxes to order the genocidal massacre of every Jew found throughout the vast kingdom. It all started when Haman's pride was bruised by the actions of a young Jewish man named Mordecai, who out of conscience before God refused to bow down before the Persian prime minister. Haman's personal hatred for Mordecai erupted into a national hatred for his fellow Jewish people. And so with all the force of a king's edict, the date was set for the destruction of the Jewish people.

God had other plans, however. He had raised up a servant for the deliverance of His people. A young, beautiful and intelligent Jewish girl named Esther had been taken as the King's wife after her appearance

Finally, Mordecai challenged Esther to act courageously by reminding her of her place in life, "Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this" (4:14). in a pagan beauty contest. She was not known within the kingdom to be a Jew and so her position was one of vulnerability. Yet it was also a position of tremendous possibility. Her cousin Mordecai made known the imminent danger that the Jewish nation faced by relating the details to Esther. With a word of faith he told her that deliverance would come from some quarter on behalf of the Jews, and with a word of warning he told her that even she was not safe within the king's household.

Esther took the risk of faith by speaking to the king. She recognized the threat - "if I perish, I perish" (4:16). But the blood of boldness raced through her body and the need of the hour summoned her to act decisively and bravely. Through her courage, God brought eventual safety to the Jewish people by sparing their lives before their enemies.

Where has God placed you? Every work, and any work, is a place of royal dignity if God is our God. Regardless of the amount of our wages or the social status of our employment, our occupation is a divine calling. We must hear God's call to us in our vocation - whether a housewife or a king's wife, the President of the United States or a sign holder for the local highway department.

Courage is born in the heart of a man when he sees that he has no other recourse than to do what is right. The need of every hour is for men and women who will act responsibly and righteously, godly and good. Nobility may be lost and persecution may be found, but greater rewards follow from the One who "is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).