For Such a Time as This

Co-pilot's interpretation of what Esther's palace residence may have looked like 

“If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear from another source, while you and your father’s household perish. It may very well be that you have achieved royal status for such a time as this!”  Esther 4:14

 In the twelfth year of king Xerxes’ reign in Persia, Haman hatched his plot. If you remember back a few posts ago, Esther became queen in the seventh year of his reign, so that means she’d been queen for around five years when all this came down. I’m not sure about you, but for me, after five years, I become accustomed to a situation. On top of that, she’d been in the harem for about four years before becoming queen, so it had been a long time since she’d lived as a Jewess. In the court, the king was, well, king. He ruled all, his word was final. He ruled by fear, a golden scepter in his hand. In fact, it was that scepter that was on Esther’s mind when she received Mordecai’s message. Her reply:

"All the servants of the king and the people of the king's provinces know that there is only one law applicable to any man or woman who comes uninvited to the king in the inner court - that person will be put to death, unless the king extends to him the gold scepter, permitting him to be spared. Now I have not been invited to come to the king for some thirty days!"  [Esther 4:11 NET]

 There is one rule. It wasn’t confusing. It wasn’t contestable. Go into the court uninvited and you’re walking into your funeral. There was a possible exception, if the king extended his scepter you would be spared, but that was far from guaranteed. Mordecai was asking Esther to play Russian roulette, but he had a very good reason. Esther’s answer to him was along the lines of, “You’ve got to be kidding!”

 You see, she was the queen, and she was used to being the queen. She woke up in the morning and a servant opened the curtains in her room. Another servant brought her fruit and delicate pastries to eat. A third drew her a bath and laid out her day’s attire that yet another servant would help her into when she was ready. When she asked for something, it appeared. She listened in on the court drama, but so little of it affected her directly. Every once in a while she would be summoned by her husband, but she barely knew him for the little time they spent together. Comfort, that summarized her existence.

 Can you blame her for responding to her cousin the way she did? It had been nearly a decade since she had “hopped to” his directives, and it was hardly her default now. His request went against everything her daily life represented. She had spent nine years hiding her heritage, not telling anyone she was a Jew, and now Mordecai had pulled a 180 and wanted her to reveal it, not just to a trusted advisor, but to the king himself!

 But Mordecai replied clearly and succinctly. If you go to the king, you might die, but if you don’t, you will die – either by this edict Haman had written or through some other means. Her only hope was to do what Mordecai said and step into the throne room, hoping against hope that she would find favor with her husband who hadn’t even spoken to her in over a month.

 How does this relate to us today? While I may not be an orphan turned queen, I am a child of the King. I may not be in the same place of influence Esther was, but I do have a voice if I am willing to use it. My circumstances are not the same, but they are rather exceptional. Because of my EDS, because of my brain tumor, because of my Lyme Disease, I have voices in communities that I wouldn’t have otherwise. Because of my disability, I can identify with a great many people, and they with me. God has placed me particularly where I am, when I am, for such a time as this.

Here's the Thing: Just like with Esther, I could choose to keep quiet, to waste the opportunity God’s given me, and God would raise up someone else to do His will. It would be me that would miss out on His blessing. Do you hear a call on your heart? Where has God placed you? With whom do you have a particular audience? Perhaps you, too, have been placed there for such a time as this!