For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this? – Esther 4:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 13, 2017): Esther 4

The legacy of Sir Winston Churchill is a topic that is bound to get people into a heated argument. The reality is that the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was a very complicated person. For some, he held racist views incompatible with his office, while others argue that his views were no different from the views held by most of the British upper classes. But there is one thing on which we might agree. He was the right person to lead the United Kingdom through the trials of the Second World War. He might not have been the right person to be Prime Minister either before or after the war, but during the war years, there just couldn’t have been anyone more fit for the position of Prime Minister. He seemed to have risen to power at precisely the right time – for such a time as this.

Mordecai feels the same way about Queen Esther. Her rise to power has come at exactly the time that her people needed her to be in a position of influence. Mordecai’s words to Esther are important. It may be that you have risen to this position for “such a time as this.” The fact that you are in the position in which you find yourself is no accident. God has placed you in power within the Persian Empire precisely because this is the time when your people need you.

Of course, the words didn’t remove the stress the Queen was feeling at this moment. Mordecai was asking her to go into the King’s presence, without being summed, and plead the case of the Jews. The act of going into the King’s presence without being summoned could mean her death. But Mordecai was convinced that if she didn’t go, that salvation would arise from some other avenue – and Queen Esther would bear the punishment intended for her people. God had made a way, and placed her on the throne, at this moment in time. Esther needed to make her way to see the king.

I believe that there is a principal at work here of which we all need to be aware. We are not accidents and the situations in which we find ourselves is also not accidental. Sometimes, the situations are because of our missteps. But sometimes, God has placed us where we are for a grand purpose of which we are unaware. For such a time as this, we exist to make a difference. You exist to make a difference. Go and be the difference God created you to be.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Esther 5