A Word from Esther 4

Do you ever feel like your life is...well... "running on autopilot"? You go to work and keep house. You prepare meals and mow the lawn. You try to get some exercise and to have some fun with family and friends along the way. But a lot of it, perhaps, feels a little ordinary. And you seem to have very little control over the "big issues" that are going on around you.

And yet, as today's word from Esther Chapter 4 reminds us, what we see and feel might not tell the whole truth about what God is doing in and through us.

If you know the story of Esther, you know that it's a complicated tale of palace intrigue and racial animosity. And yet, the bottom line is that there's a plot to wipe out the Jewish people. And Esther ~ a queen who happens to be Jewish ~ is reluctant to speak up for her people, out of fear over what might happen to her. 

But her uncle Mordecai sends word to her and says, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place." But here's the kicker in Mordecai's message: "And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Ester 4:13-14)

Now obviously, you might not have a "royal" position...but you are "positioned" in ways that make a difference. You're a child or parent. You're an employee or boss. You're a friend or neighbor. And if you're receiving this message, then you're probably a child of God. And do you think it's possible that God has made you who you are and has put where you are "for such a time as this," so that you can make a difference in the lives of others?

Well...I think that's not only possible, but likely!

So today, let's not run on autopilot. And let's look, instead, for those small but significant ways that God can use us to bring hope and light in a world with far too much despair and darkness. Amen.