For Such a Time as This
“For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
The book of Esther tells the fascinating story of Esther, a Jewish girl who, through an ancient beauty contest, became the wife of the Persian king. When the enemy of the Jews, Haman, got the king to agree to his dastardly plan to wipe out the Jews, Esther’s relative Mordecai came to her for help. But Esther, who had not told the king that she was a Jew, did not know what she could do.
In response, Mordecai replied with this memorable message recorded in Esther 4:14. He showed faith that God would work things out even if Esther did nothing. But he had raised her to do what was right, and he urged Esther to consider that the whole course of her life might have been orchestrated by God to put her in this position to help in her people’s time of need.
Esther was convinced and made the dangerous, but right, choice to intervene for her people.
Read more about Esther in our “Women of Faith” article “Esther’s Faith.” The fascinating story of Esther is celebrated in the Jewish national holiday of Purim. See more about this in the short article “Thanksgiving, Purim and Hanukkah.”
