Such A Time As This

“Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14b NIV). Mordecai said that to his niece, Queen Esther, to encourage her and strengthen her heart.

She needed it. She alone, of all Israel, was in a position to speak to King Xerxes and stop the planned slaughter of the Jews in Persia. Uncle Mort was asking her to do to a very dangerous thing – appear before the King without being summoned. She had a very good, legitimate reason for not wanting to do that. Normally that would get you killed.

But then again, normally the original queen would never have been deposed. Normally, a Jewish peasant girl (who hid she was Jewish) would not be chosen to be in the replacement harem. And normally, that same said Jewish peasant girl would not be chosen to be the new queen, right at the same time there was a plot afoot to murder all the Jews. Nothing about this was normal.

How about us here in America? The freest, greatest country in the world, looked to as the world leader. Yet we're tearing ourselves apart, embroiled in a fierce culture war, and righteousness appears to be losing. There's nothing normal about this.

Do we remember who we are? “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). It doesn't matter what the pagans do; it matters what we as the Church does. It's a call to sell out completely as disciples of Jesus, pursuing intimacy with him above all else. Deciding to agree with him about all issues whether we understand, agree, or dislike his answer or not, dying to ourselves and our precious American rights.

It's exciting, really, to be on the cusp of changing a culture back to God. Who knows but that we have come to our present position for such a time as this?