For Such a Time as This

As my son Korbin was preparing to go to sleep for the night, I told him I was going to work on this #OneMinuteMondays post for today. I asked him how he thought I should encourage you and me to begin our week. Without delay, he said, “I would encourage them with Esther. What a powerful story to think about to start our week.” So, on this Monday, I encourage you with possibly one of the most famous questions asked in the Bible and repeated often throughout history, “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

The Setting

King Xerxes of the great Persian Empire reigned (known as King Ahasuerus in our English Bibles). King Ahasuerus was known for his temper. He demoted Queen Vashti for insubordination, and he begins a kingdom-wide beauty pageant to see who would become the next queen. Of the possibly 25 million it could be, only 400 are chosen to be his final choices. After one year of preparation, the final round of the pageant begins. Each day one woman would prepare and present herself before the king. The next day, the same. He would eventually make his selection. After possibly hundreds of women came before the king, as soon as he sees Esther, he is smitten. The most powerful man in the world can do nothing us but think of Esther as his queen.

Consider this: Esther went from an exiled, Jewish orphan to be crowned the queen of the Persian Empire, the highest position of any woman in the entire world!

However, her life was threatened when another leader in the palace under the king, Haman, plotted to kill all the Jews. He convinced the king that the Jews should be killed because they were a threat to the kingdom. The king agreed, and Haman sent out the word of the future date when all the Jews would be killed.

Esther’s cousin Mordecai, who had raised his orphaned younger cousin, sent word to Esther. He asked her to go to the king to do something about what Haman planned. There was one problem. Even as queen, to walk into the king uninvited could mean that you lose your life. She was afraid. This is when he asked her one of the most famous questions in the Bible and human history, “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

Esther acted upon this advice, and she devised a plan. After three days of fasting and prayer, she went before the king. He was ecstatic. She had dinner with him and Haman that night. She asked if it were possible to have dinner the next night as well. The king agreed. At the second dinner she exposed Haman’s plan to kill all the Jews, which would include her. In the king’s anger, he immediately hung Haman and made a second decree. In addition, he made Mordecai the second in the kingdom.

God’s Providence in Action

You can see God’s hand of providence all throughout this story. God worked years in advance to protect His people from this effort by Haman, who was working on behalf of Satan ultimately. But God.

Powerful words that reflect God’s sovereignty, His sovereign providential care, and His power: But, God.

Friend, as you go out into your day and week, please do not forget these two powerful words are at work in your life as well: But God.

Image Credit Murray Campbell