For Such A Time As This

What if you lived believing God had put you in the perfect position to change the world? How would your life be different?

I think humans spend a lot of time longing for anything other than the present. We long for vacation, and then when we’re on vacation, we long for our own bed. We can’t wait to get older - to be able to drive, to graduate college, to get the kids out of the house. And then once we’re older, we would give anything for the physical agility and wrinkle-free skin of our younger years. We’re always wishing for a different house, job, relationship status, salary, or circumstance.

But I continually find that when I say “If I just had _____,” that thing never really brings the satisfaction that I want. Longing is just followed by more… Longing.

Because the grass is always greener until you actually get to the other side - and then it’s not the right shade of green.

One of my favorite books of the Bible is Esther. She stumbles upon her role as the Persian queen quite unexpectedly, keeping her Jewish lineage a secret. During her time as queen, her cousin, Mordecai, shares with her that the king has promoted a leader who is plotting to destroy the Jews. Mordecai encourages Esther to step in and save her people.

Esther knows that going to the king unannounced was a crime punishable by death. Esther had to decide: would she risk her life to save her people? Or would she allow them to be persecuted while she enjoyed royal life? Esther probably longed for a different circumstance. I’m sure she had thoughts of how much greener the grass would be if she wasn’t in this situation. But Mordecai responds to her with some famous words,

“Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

- Esther 4:13-14

In other translations, Mordecai’s words read at the end of verse 14 as: “Perhaps you were made for such a time as this?”

Mordecai reminds Esther that maybe, just maybe, she was made for this very moment. Maybe God had placed her in this role, at this very time, to do something incredible. Esther reponds,

“When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

- Esther 4:16

And this is why I love Esther. “If I perish, I perish.” The bravery and courage of someone who so quickly accepts the call God has placed on her life, to choose conviction over comfort. To choose His purpose over her pleasure. I’d like to live an, “If I perish, I perish” kind of life.

What if we stopped wasting so much time wishing for a different job, different season, different struggle?

It’s time to push against the desire to romanticize a greener grass and consider the idea that maybe God made you for this very moment.

Perhaps God placed you in your job, or your family, or your hurting city, so He could do something incredible through you.

Now I’ll be quick to clarify that I don’t think God is causing the bad things in your life to test you. Instead, I believe God is sending you to help be the solution to the bad things that sin has caused! Perhaps you could actually be a part of the process of creating change and bringing a little heaven to earth.

How will you move forward, knowing that God wants to use you in mighty ways? Will you waste time wishing for a different story?

Or will you respond like Esther, with incredible courage, and say, “If I perish, I perish”?

Cristina Schmitter

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