Perhaps For A Moment Just Like This

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Esther was a beautiful, young Jewish girl, living a normal Jewish life when she was selected as a potential new queen for the king. When the time came for him to select his new queen, he noticed her beauty and chose Esther, not knowing she was a Jew.

Granted, Esther was just a young teenage girl, but she must have wondered at some point “Why me? Why was I chosen?”. She must have known that her beauty played into it, but she must also have known that, had the king known that she was a Jew, he probably would never have married her.

Esther would have found it difficult to fully appreciate and enjoy her queenship as a result, you see. She was just a young woman. She did not seek out the throne of the queen. It was thrust upon her, seemingly by forces beyond her control. There was no way that Esther could have known the terrifying circumstance that had caused God Himself to choose her and exalt her to her current position.....

A Plot Is Hatched
Fortunately, Esther’s uncle Mordecai was nearby and was a wise man of God, and he counseled Esther regularly during her reign. This was providential, because an evil man named Haman (the king’s right hand man) who hated the Jews - and especially Mordecai - had devised a plan to destroy all of the Jews in the kingdom.

Haman told King Ahasuerus that there were a people in his kingdom that did not follow his laws, and that they should be destroyed. He convinced the king to decree that these “Jews” were to be killed at a certain date.

A Dangerous Assignment
Now when Mordecai heard of these things, he began to mourn, and eventually had opportunity to send word to Esther about what Haman had purposed to do to their people. Mordecai sent word to her that she should go unto the king and ask the king to stop this from happening.

Esther, however, was deathly afraid of doing that. She sent word to Mordecai, saying “All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or women, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.”

When Mordecai heard of Esther’s hesitancy to go to the king to save her people, he sent word back to her, saying Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Esther acknowledged the wisdom of Mordecai’s words, took action, and her people were saved through the courage and bravery of Queen Esther. Were it not for the willingness of a young Jewish woman to face death, we would never have heard of a man named Jesus, never have had the opportunity for forgiveness of our sins and eternal life, never have received God’s New Testament Word through men of God named Peter and John and Paul.

She was scared to act, scared to die, but when Esther heard Mordecai’s last words to her, it spurred her to respond with faith and fearlessness to the call of God:

Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

A Rainy Assignment
Some 50 years ago, a nameless, faceless man had come to know Christ as his Saviour and Lord. Soon after, he had invited a couple of his closest friends to a church service so that they could learn about Jesus, too. Both of his friends received Christ as their Saviour and Lord that night.

On their way home, it began raining torrentially, so powerfully that they eventually could not see beyond the hood of the man’s truck. So the men pulled over to the side of the road and began to chat until the rain had passed. That’s when our Lord dropped a bombshell on that man.

“Tell the rain to stop” the Lord spoke inside of his heart. The man just kept talking to his friends as though he hadn’t heard the Lord. “Tell the rain to stop,” the Lord spoke a second time, and the man tried to ignore Him again. But the third time the Lord spoke to the man, He changed his “tone of voice”.

The Lord said somberly, “Tell the rain to stop.”

In recounting the events of that evening, that nameless, faceless man said he knew from the Lord’s “tone of voice” that he would never have this opportunity again. He felt the urgency of the Lord, and he knew that he must respond to Him.

He hem-hawed around for a couple minutes trying to find the words to explain to his two friends what he was about to say, but he finally gave up and simply said, “Look, the Lord told me to tell the rain to stop, and I have to do it.”

With that, he said, “Peace be still, in the name of Jesus.”

At the moment that man spoke the name of Jesus, not one more drop of rain touched the truck. Instantaneously, there was not a single cloud in the sky. The men sat in that truck by the side of the road and cried for hours and hours.

That man had been scared silly to do what the Lord had told him to do. But he became aware of the urgency of the Lord directing him to act in obedience. He became aware that he had to respond to His command. He became aware that, perhaps for a moment just like that, God had called him to the kingdom.

Who Knows?
Is God asking you to do something right now that you’re afraid to do? Are you wondering why you are in this situation in the first place? Are you wishing that someone else would take responsibility? Are you wondering “Why me?”.

Who knows whether or not God placed you in the spot you’re in for a moment just like this? Who knows what miraculous result might come about when you respond to God with faith and fearlessness? Who knows what God can do when we say “Yes” in spite of frightening outward appearances, past failures or personal insecurities?

When we are afraid, we must acknowledge and act upon our faith, for His Word tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). When we are afraid, we must acknowledge and act upon our hope, for His Word tells us that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37). When we are afraid, we must acknowledge and act upon our love, for His Word tells us that perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

My friends, sometimes God’s very best blessings are found in the darkest of circumstances.

I will pray for you what I pray for myself, my friends, that we would be of good courage because of our God, that we would realize that fear's attempts to bind us must come so that His courage within us can be made manifest, and that we would respond to fear in faith, knowing that the victory over fear has already been accomplished by our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.

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