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 you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this (Esther 4:13–14 NIV)?
If you don’t know the story of Esther, I encourage you to read it. It has everything: romance, adventure, intrigue, villains, deception . . . and most of all, destiny!
In a world filled with billions of people, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. It’s easy to feel insignificant, even worthless. It’s easy to believe your life has no meaning and purpose, that God could never use you for anything important. Esther must have felt that way too. Not only was she a common woman, she also came from a race of conquered people. In Babylonian society at that time, you couldn’t get much lower.
One of my favorite parts of the story is found in the Scripture above. By the divine providence of God, Esther has been made Queen of Persia. Yes, you heard me. Queen! Yet, her struggles are only about to begin. Due to a single man in power who hates the Jews, a decree has gone out by the king that all Jews in his kingdom are to be slaughtered. Of course, the king doesn’t know his queen is a Jew! Esther’s uncle begs her to go to the king to plead their people’s cause, but Esther knows that if she approaches the king unannounced, she could be put to death. She can either try to save her people and risk death, or she can do nothing. Either way, God’s will shall be done. But the truth of the matter is, if Esther chose the easy way, if she chose to do nothing, she would have missed her destiny.
We can refuse to walk in obedience to God and cower in fear from our calling if we want. God undoubtedly will accomplish His agenda without us by some other means. But we will have passed up the fulfillment of our own entire life-purpose and will have missed out on being a part of something mighty, eternal, and extraordinary.
Don’t wait until it’s too late to follow God with all your heart. How tragic it will be for those who choose to serve themselves in this life all the way into a meaningless existence. As they stand before God on Judgment Day, they no doubt will wail in agony for all they missed in this life.
If you are alive today, then God has something for you to do.
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live (Acts 17:26 NIV).
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:11 NIV).
Esther made the right choice. She risked her own life to obey God—and in the process, she saved an entire nation of people from annihilation.
What are you going to do? Only God knows the plans He has for you. All you need to do is listen and obey. And fulfill your destiny!
MaryLu Tyndall