…“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 4:14).
King Ahasuerus (aka Xerxes) gathers all the beautiful young women from his empire to pick his new queen. Esther is an exiled Jew raised by her cousin, Mordecai. He advises her to conceal her Jewish heritage when she is brought in. She wins the king’s favor and becomes queen, to a king who dismissed his last wife because she didn’t cater to his every whim.
After some time, Haman is promoted and Mordecai refuses to pay homage to him. Consumed with anger, Haman convinces the king to decree the annihilation of the entire Jewish population, on an appointed day in the near future. Mordecai challenges Esther to speak out against Haman even though she will risk her life to do so. Shes asks the Jewish people to pray and fast on her behalf and she plans her appeal. She invites the king and Haman to a feast then another. Haman is still filled with wrath for Mordecai. Friends advise him to request Mordecai’s hanging. He begins construction on a gallows.
Meanwhile, the king can’t sleep and orders his chronicles to be read to him. When he hears the account of Mordecai uncovering a plot against him, he asks what was done to honor him. Turns out, nothing. Before Haman can request Mordecai’s hanging, the king asks him what should be done to honor someone. Assuming the king is referring to him, he provides great detail. Then he has to carry out the grand gesture he suggested, but for Mordecai. Esther makes her appeal to the king. She calls Haman out, reveals her heritage, and expresses her desire to save her people. The king’s original decree can’t be reversed, but he allows the Jewish people to defend themselves. Haman is hanged, and the people of Israel are saved.
When Mordecai sends word to Esther that she is in a position to save her people, he says, “if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place.” He is confident that God will deliver them with or without her.
God doesn’t need us, but wants us to be involved in building his kingdom. Will we take for granted our position while ignoring the opportunity God has given us to fulfill his purposes?
Lord, search our hearts! Forgive us for getting too comfortable in our status. Make us aware of opportunities we have neglected. Give us the courage to do the right thing, even when it’s the hard thing.
