When Mordecai was told what Esther had said, he sent back this reply, "Don't think that you will escape being killed with the rest of the Jews, just because you live in the king's palace. If you don't speak up now, we will somehow get help, but you and your family will be killed. It could be that you were made queen for a time like this!"
(Esther 4:12-14, CEV)
God moves in ways we often don’t understand. His thoughts really aren’t our thoughts. His ways aren’t our ways. (See Isa. 55:8-9.) So often we’re put into situations that we would never have chosen ourselves. A job we don’t like. A place far from home. A ministry we never anticipated.
Even a place in the palace.
Yet, if we follow Christ, if we trust our loving God, we can be certain that everything is in His plan, and He really will work all things for good and His glory (Rom. 8:28).
Mordecai certainly understands this. He is certain that the people of Israel will “somehow get help.” He believes that the God he trusts and serves would save His people. But Mordecai also knows that Esther’s life is at risk because it's likely her heritage would be found out—and she might be killed anyway.
Then he says those great words that I so love. The New King James Version says it like this: “… who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
How many “such a time” experiences have you had? Maybe you’re in one now. You don’t understand why God’s put you where you are, but if you just trust Him, He may just reveal your “such a time.”
1 comment:
Knowing that we only come into the kingdom by Jesus' saving grace, I do love the thought--in the context of "you were saved to do works planned for you at the beginning of time"--that for the hardships we face we were brought into the kingdom. That God has a place for us in His work. That He trusts us to carry out vital assignments on His kingdom's behalf. What comfort in the midst of hardship.
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