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For Such A Time As This
Having recently celebrated Purim, the events of the book of Esther are likely fresh in our minds. The book of Esther is truly a unique book of the Bible. On one hand, God Himself is never mentioned in the story. At the same time, we see that the hand of God & the deliverance of God are clearly evident in so many ways throughout the account.
I believe we can be greatly encouraged as we consider the workings of God as seen in the book of Esther. The encouragement comes from seeing the simple truth that, God can order & redeem the circumstances of our lives even when it seems to us like little or nothing is happening.
There are 2 incidents that, in & of themselves, do not seem very significant. However, as they relate to a larger picture, these two seemingly ordinary events turn out to be the key to opening the way for the victory God would bring about on behalf of the Jewish people. We find that at the end of chapter 2, two of the king’s doorkeepers were plotting to kill the king. We read that Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, overheard their plot, resulting in the king’s life being saved. This event come & goes, & it really does not seem like it is very significant, as nothing is made of the incident. I would imagine that, from Mordecai’s perspective, he simply figured he had done what was right in reporting the incident, & yet nothing really came of it.
However, as we look ahead to chapter 6, where the story picks up some time later, we find that this event was not forgotten after all. Keep in mind that, taking place in the background, is a plot by the evil Haman to have the Jewish people destroyed. While this is happening, we read that one night, the king was restless. Unable to sleep, he decides to read thru the records of the chronicles of his kingdom. As he reads, he discovers that Mordecai had never been properly rewarded or honored for saving his life. At once, he decides that this oversight must be corrected. This discovery changes the king’s entire disposition just at the time that Haman is plotting to kill Mordecai & all of the Jews. And so, we see that a very simple, seemingly unimportant statement is made in chapter 6:1—“the king could not sleep.” Yet, this becomes a key to the whole deliverance God would eventually bring about on behalf of the Jewish people.
Let’s think about this for a moment. Mordecai just happened to overhear the plot against the king. The matter just happened to be set aside with no reward for Mordecai. It just happened that the king could not sleep one night soon after this had taken place. It just happened that, as Haman is coming in to the king to suggest that Mordecai be killed, at the very same time, the king is planning how he would honor & reward Mordecai.
My point is simply this. We can so easily look at the ordinary events of our daily life, & we wrongly conclude, “nothing much is happening.” However, very often, what is happening is a divine arrangement of circumstances in which we will see, at just the right moment, a revealing of the purposes of God to use those ordinary events as a catalyst for victory & blessing. I believe that we need to remove from our vocabulary the statement–“I just don’t see God doing anything right now.” Thinking and speaking this way affects us very negatively. It robs us of faith. It can leave us discouraged & even hopeless. And, it shows that we really don’t understand God’s ways. We have in mind our own concept of “what it looks like” when God is “doing something” in our lives. But the truth is, we generally don’t even consider that God is doing something special & preparatory in the midst of, what seem to be, very ordinary circumstances.
However, at the appropriate moment in time, God puts together all the little “pieces of the puzzle” that He has been working with in our lives, & we are suddenly enabled to see some level of breakthrough or victory.
What we must understand is this. It is a step by step progression by which God reveals His purposes for a person’s life. We can be feeling like nothing in our lives makes sense, & then, suddenly we see the pieces of our lives come together to reveal something of God’s design & making. It’s as if our eyes become opened, & we understand the purpose & importance of something we had previously walked through that, at the time, we did not understand. Suddenly we realize that God was ordering events that we were not even alert to. We come to see that, God was indeed working “behind the scenes” to bring us to the place where He could fully release His blessing that we thought was just not going to happen.
This is how God so often works. This is why we must remove from our thinking, the idea that, “it just doesn’t seem like God is doing anything in my life right now.” Instead, as a people of faith, we need to be thinking & saying, “Lord–thank You for all that You are doing in my life right now, whether I can see it or not. Thank You that you are at work in my life.” Truly, the most dangerous thing that can happen in our lives is for us to allow ourselves to get lulled to sleep as we assume little or nothing is happening in our lives.
We need to see the book of Esther as an exhortation to us, to live our lives with a readiness for the purposes of God, whatever those purposes may be. We need to be living our lives in such a way that we are ready to respond to opportunities God may set before us. Think about it. Here was Esther–living what might be considered an ordinary life, until a series of circumstances catapulted her into the palace of the king, where she was able to, ultimately, impact a nation. How does one prepare for a call like that? The truth is, we can’t really prepare for such a call, because, we can’t possibly anticipate the details of the end God may have in store for our lives. However, we can prepare for the possibility of whatever God might want to do in our lives, by simply living each day in humility before the Lord,
consciously submitted to His purposes, and aware of the potential for great things to emerge out of seemingly ordinary circumstances. We must live each day with expectation that something of purpose & destiny can be brought forth out of these lives that, at times, may seem so ordinary.
The truth is, everything in our lives is meant for preparation. Right now, you may be in the early stages of God’s preparation for something special. Or, you may be right on the verge of stepping into something you never could have imagined. Don’t allow yourself to get lulled to sleep by the appearance of little or nothing happening. Don’t try to figure out what stage you are in of God’s process in your life. Rather, just walk closely with the Lord every day, embracing what He has for you each day.
Clearly, it is not a time for any one of us as God’s people, to be careless or casual or self-centered in how we live. It is not a time for us to question whether God is “doing anything.” Rather, it is a time to live with confident expectation for great things yet to come. It is a time to walk in faith for God to use us to extend the purposes of His Kingdom throughout the earth, because, the same words spoken to Esther, certainly do apply to each & every one of us as God’s people–“who knows if you’ve not come to the kingdom–for such a time as this.”
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Ormond Beach, FL 32174 
