Finding Your Place in God's Great Story

"One Year Bible" Old Testament History Passage
Esther 4:1-7:10

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?  Esther 4:14 (NKJV)

This is the most famous, most often quoted verse from this small, beautiful book of Esther.  "For such a time as this."  There are so many layers to what God is saying here. 

First, THE PLAN OF GOD WILL GO FORWARD.  God had determined that He would deliver the Jews.  This is an action of sovereign God Who brings to pass that which He desires. 

Second, Esther is offered the OPPORTUNITY to be a part of this great plan.  Esther has a choice.  God is going to accomplish His will.  Esther has the choice of joining God's plan or running from it.

Third, Esther must RECOGNIZE GOD'S HAND in her life.  Mordecai tells her to re-examine the very reason she lives where she lives.  Re-examine why her life has taken the course it has taken.  Esther is called to discover the HIDDEN HAND OF GOD at work in her life.

Fourth, Esther must display COURAGE.  Just because God is guiding your life, that doesn't mean there is no risk.  In verse 16 she says, "If I perish, I perish!"  We are not allowed to see the results of our actions before we take them.  We must move in pure faith trusting that God will meet us. 

Lastly, Esther's actions reach far BEYOND HERSELF.  She is certainly in personal danger.  But her entire people are in danger.  Her actions -- her own small actions -- count for a much larger picture.  I think that is what God says to us today, too.  "You think you're just affecting your own life, but really your actions affect an entire host of others." 

So today, realize that your life counts for a much larger story.  It is the story of God's working in our world -- in your world.