“For such a time as this.”
The verse everybody knows. The verse on coffee mugs, T-shirts, journals and probably a few throw pillows. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's a powerful verse.
But remember when we started Esther and I said this wasn't going to be just another “for such a time as this” devotion? Now that we're actually here, I understand even more why.
I think we've spent so much time focusing on Esther being chosen that we've missed something huge Mordecai says right before that famous line. The decree has gone out. Mordecai is mourning. Esther finally learns what's happening, and Mordecai tells her she needs to go before the king.
And Esther knows what that could cost her.
You don't just walk into the king's presence uninvited. She could die. But then Mordecai tells her something that stopped me, If you remain silent, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place.
Read that again.
Mordecai doesn't tell Esther, Everything depends on you. He basically tells her the opposite. Deliverance is coming. The question is whether you're going to participate in it.
That changes “for such a time as this” for me. Sometimes we can take the things God calls us to do and slowly start believing everything depends on us.
The ministry. The family. The job. The church. The people we're trying to help. The thing we're building.
We pray about it, God gives us something to carry, and before long we're exhausted because somewhere along the way we started carrying something that was never ours.
I've done it.
I've felt like I had to make things happen, fix things, explain things, protect things and somehow hold everything together. And Esther 4 reminded me today, I'm not the Savior. Neither was Esther. God didn't need Esther to be God. He just needed her to be faithful. And look at what she does next. She doesn't throw on her crown and storm into the throne room declaring, “This is my moment!” She says, fast for me.
So before Esther stands before the king, she humbles herself. Before the public courage she has private surrender. Before she moves, she recognizes that this is bigger than her. Then she says, “If I must die, I must die.” That's not somebody trying to control the outcome.
That's surrender.
And I needed that reminder today.
God has given me things to build. He's given me people to love, places to serve and things He's asked me to do. I want to be faithful with all of it. But none of it requires me to be the hero. My job is obedience. God's job is the outcome.
That takes so much pressure off if we let it. So today, instead of asking, What's my big “for such a time as this” moment? I'm asking something different, God, what are You already doing, and where are You asking me to be faithful in it?
We don't need to save the day. We don't need to know how everything turns out. We don't even need to be God's only option. We just want to be willing when our turn comes.
That's Esther 4 for me now.
Not look how important Esther was.
But Look how faithful God is.
He was already working. He already had a plan. Esther just had to say yes to her part in it. And when my turn comes, I want to do the same.
You don't have to be the hero of the story. Just be faithful when your turn comes.
Hidden, not absent.
His fingerprints are everywhere.
Love Pastor Mandy
MandiesDandies / Ark of Hope
Daily reading Esther 4
#HiddenNotAbsent #Esther4 #ForSuchATimeAsThis #YouAreNotTheSavior #FaithfulWhenYourTurnComes #SurrenderTheOutcome #HisFingerprintsAreEverywhere #ArkOfHope
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