Such A Time as This

We recall the bible story of Esther who was the niece of Mordecai, who was a captive carried away from Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. Esther was an orphan as her parents died and Mordecai raised her as his own daughter. King Ahasuerus was in search of a new queen after disposing of his former queen Vashti. As it turned out, Esther was a beautiful virgin who found favour with the King. “the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti” (Esther 2:17).

I don’t believe that the favour that was conferred to Esther was by coincidence. As we continue to examine the story, we can see her appointment as divine favour. There were many beautiful women in the kingdom at the time when the King selected a queen. What would have made him select Esther who was an orphan and a Jew? I believe that her selection was by divine providence. Soon after Esther became queen, Haman made himself an enemy of the Jews and issued a decree to have them killed. This would not have been an ideal scenario for Esther. Just at the time when she should have been enjoying her new life as queen, here comes a major threat against her life.

Mordecai’s challenge to Esther was, who knows if God didn’t allow you to become queen, because he saw ahead of time this threat that would come against the Jews? God does nothing by accident and every major transition in our lives comes with a major assignment. God would have used someone else to deliver the Jews if Esther backed away from this assignment. Esther would have missed out on going down in history as someone who walked in the divine favour of God. Her boldness in stepping out to seek the support of the King, granted her great favour including land and possessions. The King was willing to give her as much as half of his kingdom.

Once Esther agreed to support her people and called a fast, God bestowed even greater favour on her than when she became queen. God will grant us favour and establish us in places of authority and influence. This is not so that we can get what we deserve or just as a reward for all our hard work. In other words, we don’t need to become drunk on our own success. Rather, see our rise to prominence as a means to establish the kingdom of God and to complete our God given assignment.

A.P.-Y.