Made For This
For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this? Esther 4:14
“Why me?” Have you ever asked that question when someone asked you to do something?
Esther must have felt this way when she was approached by Mordecai, who was so distraught and in mourning after learning about the plot to bring annihilation against the Jewish people living in Persia. Mordecai sought Queen Esther’s intervention with the King to prevent this atrocity from happening. This meant risking her own life to save her people. Mordecai was asking Esther to consider that this request might be a part of God’s plan for her life. A quick background of Esther is that she is the cousin of Mordecai. He took responsibility to raise Esther after her parents died. She, in a twist of events, ends up being Queen in the Persian Empire.
The verse for this message is an extreme example of being asked to step up in service – risking one’s own life, but I bet we all have examples of people we love and trust asking us to do something we don’t believe to be in our “wheelhouse.” Mordecai is sure that it is Esther’s calling to help in this situation but adds to this something profoundly important. And that is that we cannot trump the sovereignty of God. She is called to this opportunity to be involved in the work of God’s kingdom but if she was to reject the call, Mordecai is still trusting God will save the people from destruction.
God wants us to prayerfully seek His guidance regarding our specific gifts, talents, and opportunities to further His kingdom and how we are each to serve each other. At times we will get to that discernment by those God puts in our path – like Mordecai is to Esther. Sometimes we might even find ourselves in a Mordecai role – as a mentor leading someone to discover that God has a job that needs to be done, helping someone recognize their call to service.
Esther accepts the call to stop the plan for eliminating the Jews in this story, but we also learn how Mordecai is called to service too. Mordecai’s story demonstrates his submission to God’s plan for his life results in his rising to prominence in the government to the benefit of a people living in a land not their own.
The story of Esther is a wonderful story that teaches that we can trust God to weave together the lives of His people for the best outcomes, even though we may not recognize the pattern of His work.
Lord God, thank You for the unique way You call and equip each of us to serve. May I serve You each day with the gifts You’ve bestowed on me. And help me to be Mordecai where You need others to be encouraged to serve You faithfully. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.