It’s not a new concept in Christendom. We have probably all been told this same phrase at some point in our faith walk. Or maybe you’re like me, and have it written on a card, hanging on your fridge.

But if you’re also anything like me, you often forget to read said card. You get lost in the worldliness and the evil surrounding us on a daily basis. You get lost in the latest headlines and the latest bad news. You put your head down and just try to do the next thing, followed by the next thing, followed by the next thing.

I’m all for taking it one step at a time. Really, that’s the only way to tackle life day in and day out when it just gets overwhelming. Can I get an amen?

My point in saying all of this remains: you’ve probably heard or been told that you are here, right now, “for such a time as this.” It’s spoken as an encouragement and really it absolutely is, but it’s so much more, which is something I have been coming to realize as I studied the book of Esther these last several weeks.

In so many ways, I find myself relating to Esther. Not so much even the brave queen who came before a king that could have ended her life, but the young girl who was just doing her next thing. The girl who didn’t ask to go to the palace of the king to have a year’s worth of beauty treatments in preparation to spend one night with the king and if she didn’t find perfect favor with him, to be regulated to be his concubine.

I find myself relating to Hadassah (her Jewish name), an orphan, who lived with her uncle and I would guess, someone who probably did not involve herself with the local politics or knew about the latest upheaval at the palace. She was lovely to look at yes, but scripture seems to paint her as simply a normal girl (but perhaps that is just my own eyes trying to see myself in this royal woman).

And isn’t that just who God uses? The normal. The rejected. The forgotten. The broken. The hurting. The ones we least expect. Ourselves.

Like Hadassah, we are normal. We don’t feel as though we have much to bring to the kingdom of God. We don’t have a giant platform to reach thousands of people. Our voice is small and the ripple we make upon life doesn’t feel queen-like significant.

Really, isn’t that exactly what the evil one wants us to think though?

Because if he can keep you silent because not enough people are listening, he has won. Because if he can keep you from speaking up for truth and proclaiming righteousness, he has won. Because if he gets you believing that you can’t really make a difference, no matter how small and insignificant it feels to you, he has won.

Esther didn’t go to the king’s palace, expecting to be picked as queen. She went out of obedience and faith.

Esther didn’t go to the king that first night, expecting that he would find such delightful favor in her and make her queen on the spot.

Esther didn’t become queen, expecting that someday she would be faced with the scariest and hardest thing she would ever have to do.

Esther didn’t expect that she would have to take her life into her hands and approach a king that could kill her if he didn’t find favor with her, and beg for the lives of her people.

I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t wake up everyday expecting that something big and significant is going to happen in my life in which I am going to have to “show up” in the same way Esther did. Let’s be real, most of our lives (speaking for myself chiefly here) is pretty average. We cook, clean, work, exercise, read, spend time with our spouse or friends, sleep. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Most certainly, most of us will lead and live fairly “average” lives. We won’t become a queen to a great nation. We won’t become senators or lawmakers or president. We probably won’t even hold school board positions or have our own podcast or have influence on many of these people who do.

But we are still created for such a time as this.

Why?

Because you, as a follower of Christ, have a responsibility to live your life giving all the glory back to our Father in heaven.

Because you are a mother, a father, a friend, a sister, a daughter, a son, a brother, an employee with people that you influence everyday.

Because you have a voice that needs to speak out for the truth of the gospel and you are able to reach people that may never hear of the great people that influence you.

We are standing in the middle of a tidal wave of culture that is desperately trying to tell us how to think, walk, talk, act. We are told that our evangelical views are wrong and we need to apologize for the truth that we are fighting for. We are being told to shut up, back up and sit down and don’t speak until we conform to the views that the world wants us to hold.

We are facing the beginning of an oppression that won’t be stopped, unless we become the Esther’s of our generation.

What does that look like though, practically speaking?

Much as I said in my last article, Believer, It’s Time to Stand Up, it looks like defending the truth of the Gospel. It looks like speaking out for what is right in the face of what is wrong telling us we are shameful and ignorant.

It means that even though society will tell us that we are going to be “cancelled” (someday I will write a blog post about how truly stupid I find this statement, but I will refrain for the time being…) we won’t be bullied into allowing culture to dictate to us what we should believe and defend and stand up for.

The tenents of our faith, the saving grace of Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection are irrefutable and we should not be shamed into refusing to speak this truth, and the only truth in which all our morals flow from. How we treat other people flow from this. How we love our neighbor and how we defend what is right and hate what is evil is all found within the pages of God’s word and we need to be invested in it.

As modern Esther’s, we need to be speaking into the lives of our children. Raising up disciples that will fight the good fight long after we are gone. And for those of us who have no children, we need to be supporting those who do and putting boots to our faith, not being shy about speaking to our friends, our relatives, our neighbors and not letting the “woke” culture of today have the only narrative.

Esther could have hid within the walls of the palace and hoped to be free from the destruction that Haman had planned for her people, the Jews. She could have hoped that she was impervious to the danger that was coming to kill her people. After all, no one knew that she was a Jew aside from herself and her uncle.

Like Esther, we too can have these same thoughts. We can think if we just keep our head down and ignore what is happening around us, it will make it all go away. (Waving my hand here, as this is the all too comfortable and tempting option and one I too often give into). And while I will be the first to advocate that is not always healthy mentally or physically for every individual to immerse themselves in knowing all of the evil that is our world (also, me), that doesn’t give us a free pass to forsake that as born again believers in Jesus Christ, we aren’t going to escape trials and tribulation.

The question is: how are you going to face them?

Are you going to face them with the strength and faith and bravery of Esther?

Are you going to stand up for the weak and the hurting and refuse to be bullied?

Our lives are not our own. Esther’s life did not belong solely to her. We belong and are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ and though we face trials and temptations and may even lose our lives for the cause of Christ, we can know that our voices matter. Our lives matter.

I don’t say these things to be melodramatic. After all, this is still America and persecution in our country looks nothing like China and surrounding nations.

I do say these things so we might be bolstered in our faith. Reminded of ones who have gone before us and been recorded in the holiest of books as examples of what our faith should look like.

And while we might never approach a king that we fear will take our life, we do live a life that we can fear being hated for our faith and our example of it. However, people hold no power when it comes to the mighty works of a Holy and Righteous God. People may speak and hurt and harm and postulate, but they truly can never fully hurt us. So, Esther’s, let us arise. Let us stand for Truth. Let us stand for Righteousness. To raise up disciples who are true followers of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because we aren’t here 100 years ago. And we aren’t yet in this world 100 years from now.

We were created for just such a time as this.

Let’s not waste it.

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