November 17th

For Such a Time as This

            When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.  For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

Esther 4:12-14

  

          When it comes down to it, we don’t really know.  We don’t really know what God is doing.  We don’t really know how everything is going to work out until we see it happen.  We don’t really know why we were put in this place at this time surrounded by these people.  What we have is the hope that God is good and God is powerful and God is orchestrating this life that we are living.

            Mordecai believed that if Esther did not champion her people, God would raise up someone else and His work would be done somehow.  But Mordecai also believed that there was an opportunity available for Esther that was specifically prepared for her.  Every step of her life had led her to this place and she was being given the chance to partner with the Almighty in the deliverance of her people.  Her formative years growing up where she learned of God and how he raised up the Jews.  The year of beauty school where she was prepared to come before the king to see if she pleased him.  Her relationship with Mordecai who just happened to be the nemesis of the king’s 2^nd in command.  Everything came together so that Esther could stand for her people and use every resource at her disposal and see the power of God work through her.

            Perhaps we, too, have been brought up to be here for just such a time as this.  Maybe there were pieces in our childhood that prepared us.  Maybe there were relationships that forged something within us that lay dormant for years.  Maybe the years in the waste-of-time job prepared us for what we are now stepping in to.  Maybe there is a work that God wants to do that He specifically equipped to be a part of.  Maybe He will transform the world through us.

            It sure does not feel that way as I scrub dishes and trip over dirty clothes and answer unending texts of mundane work-related problems.  Nothing in my life at the moment feels like it has the potential to change the world…or my church…or my neighborhood.  If I was specifically made for anything, it seems that it was to help this family keep its head above water…and we are barely there.

            Maybe we will look back on this time and realize that this season was when the foundation was laid for the great things that are to come.  Maybe we will see how our past and present came together to create an amazing future.  Maybe the reason for all the struggles will become clear when we see what the end result is.

            And maybe not.  Maybe we will find that what my wife needed was a husband like me and what my children needed was a father like me and what I needed was a family like them.  Maybe we will see that the best life available to us was the one lived together and that God knew exactly what He was doing when He put us all in a family.  Maybe there does not have to be a potentially catastrophic event to make our lives meaningful.  Maybe it is enough if we love well and allow ourselves to be loved.  Maybe God invests as much time and effort preparing us to care for our little families as He does in setting Esther up to save her people.  Maybe I was made for such a time, and such a family, as this.

            We never really know.

A moment to reflect:

What were you made for?  How has God prepared you for loving your family well?