What would you do if you found yourself before a king? We don’t really have kings and queens ruling countries like in the old days but think for a moment if we did….what would you do if you found yourself before a king and realized that the fate of your nation laid in your hands?
Well, this very thing happened to a young girl by the name of Esther. Her story is found in the Bible in Esther 4. She had been made a queen and a law had been passed to annihilate the Jewish people. Esther panicked and refused Mordecai’s please to ask the king to spare them. We pick up the story is verse 13, “Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made a queen for just such a time as this?”
Esther faced a life-defining choice: Stay silent and her life is spared or speak up and possibly seal her fate and the fate of her people. In a remarkable act of bravery, she decides to fast and pray and leave the rest up to God. I love what she says in verse 16, “I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” I am so inspired by her selfless resolve. I believe she was able to go from refusing to risk her life for her people to putting her life on the line for them because she came to understand 2 things:
- Favour is for function, not fame – this story tells us that Esther had favour with everyone she met. She knew that it was God-given and it was for a purpose. Not so that she could be awesome, but so that she could be used by God to save a nation.
- When faith and purpose meet, miracles happen – God ordained her to be in that palace, it was her purpose. She stepped out in faith, willing to risk it all and God did what only He could – He miraculously saved her people.
So what about you?
What will you use your God-given favour for? Are you even believing God for opportunities to make a difference? I believe that God causes His favour to rest on our lives so that we can stand in the gap for those who have no voice.
What are you willing to do to see people in your world saved? Do you realise that God has placed people in your world that He longs to reach through you?
Whose life-change could be on the other side of your obedience? I believe it’s time for our generation to put aside our self-centeredness and realise that our lives can impact those around us. We can take a stand and reach out to those who may be lonely or broken or down-trodden.
When you believe that God wants to use you and you walk in His purpose for your life, miracles can happen through you in the lives of those around you. Are you up for the challenge?
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Let’s change the world, shall we?