For Such a Time as This

Have you ever read the Bible story about the faith of the woman who won the R-rated beauty pageant?

No?  Then you haven't read the book of Esther.  I just read Esther this week for my personal devotions.  You could read the whole book in about 15 minutes and you should.  Here are a few reasons why:

1.  The 6 month party thrown by the Persian King Xerxes!

2.  How the most powerful man in the world reacts when his wife won't come to his party to show off how hot she is.

3.  The shadiest search for a new queen in the history of mankind (hint--there's a reason why Esther isn't in the kids' Sunday school curriculum)

4.  One of the best expressions of God's plan found in the Bible.

That last one caught my attention.  A man named Mordecai gave that beautiful expression of faith.  Let me catch you up if you don't know the story...

Mordecai's cousin Esther became the new queen of Persia after the R-rated beauty pageant.  However, Mordecai refused to bow down to a high Persian official who, in turn, convinced the king (Esther's new hubby) to kill off all the Jews in the entire empire.  Since Mordecai and Esther were Jewish, that was bad news for them.  Mordecai begged Esther to walk uninvited into the king's chamber and try to save her people.  She replied that doing so could cost her her life (the law said even the king's wife needed an invitation; the uninvited could be killed!).  So Mordecai responded with the classic line:

"Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"  (Esther 4:14)

I love it.  Mordecai saw all of history, even the moments that weren't God-pleasing, as tools in the hand of God.  Maybe God used that sex-driven king and his questionable morals to rescue an entire nation.  Maybe, as Mordecai suggested, Esther was queen for one simple reason--for such a time as this.  So she could act in courage and faith at just the right moment.

You may have never heard the fancy name for it, but the Christian doctrine of "vocation" is based partly on that idea.  God has you in this very moment for a very specific reason--to serve him by loving others.  Like Esther, your situation may not be ideal.  You may not have dreamed as a little kid about being where you now have ended up.  But, nevertheless, maybe you're here for "such a time as this"--To raise this son with a mental handicap.  To comfort that coworker whose husband has been unfaithful.  To care for your aging and helpless parents.  To help that struggling family in the apartment next door.

Sometimes we dream of bigger and better things for our lives.  Such dreams aren't wrong, in and of themselves, but God doesn't want you to miss the here and now.  This moment.  That person.  This opportunity.

Take 15 minutes this weekend and curl up on the couch.  Read Esther's story.  And ask yourself, "Why has God allowed me to come to this time and this place?  What does Christian love look like in such a time as this?"

Blessings and happy reading!

Pastor Mike