Esther 4.16 comments, If I must die, I must die.
One of the heroes of the Bible is the young woman Esther. An oft quoted statement from the book in her memory is ‘perhaps you were made queen for such a time as this.’
The story of Esther is one of tragedy and triumph, of faith and courage, of God’s faithful work behind the scenes when people risk all for His purposes.
Esther lost her parents probably during the capture of Israel and subsequent move of the people to Susa. Raised by her uncle, Esther is then taken from him because she is beautiful, to become one of many wives of the foreign king. The king takes special interest in this young lady so makes her queen.
She hides the fact she belongs to a conquered people of his, a people the king’s most powerful official is on a quest to eliminate. Esther finally identifies herself to the king as one of those targeted for elimination and pleads for mercy for her people. The king relents and Israel is spared.
This simple summary eliminates the intrigue, the fear, the faith, and the courage that was necessary to obtain the result everyone was praying for. The lessons from the story are many.
One lesson to be learned is that sometimes our ‘bad luck’ is God’s plan for positioning us to where He can accomplish His purposes through us. We may not like where we are in life but if we will stay true to God and connected to God He will be with us in those trials and use them for good.
Another lesson to learn is that being in the middle of God’s plan does not mean we wont have to take great risks even to the point of death. Esther was willing do everything she could to save her people even placing herself in violation of the law punishable by death. God’s plan can include our total commitment without apparent success for us.
Faith and courage is doing the seemingly impossible work of God while leaving the results to God, trusting God that He Who is with us will see us through no matter the difficulty.
This world is in desperate need of more Esthers: people willing to stay faithful to the Person and work of God regardless of their circumstances or history, risking all to accomplish His will on earth as it is in heaven.
