Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Esther 4 and Psalm 29

The official decree had been made by the king, and the Jews had only 11 months before they could be annihilated and their property taken as loot – legally and with the king’s blessing. The clock was ticking on their genocide. Remarkably, instead of fleeing to another country, or even to Jerusalem (where the city was being rebuilt), they fled to the place of fasting and public repentance (of which their sackcloth and ashes were signs). Although God is not mentioned, we can read the signs. Their actions represented a great turning to God in desperate cries for help and deliverance.

Mordecai took his intercession one step further, though. He not only fasted and wore signs of repentance and mourning as acts of pleading with God for deliverance, but he also went to intercede for the Jews with Esther. Although she was in a very vulnerable position herself, and could not even safely approach the king’s presence without an invitation, she was still the best positioned Jew in the kingdom. So Mordecai approached Esther, calling on her to intercede for the Jews on the basis of the remarkable statement: “Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

Mordecai was pleading for Esther to consider the possibility that the hand of the LORD had been behind her elevation to queen, and that He had done so for exactly this moment. Had God not positioned her to be able to intercede with the king on behalf of her people? As disciples we need to ask ourselves how the position in which God has placed us right now can be of service to His Kingdom. Like Esther, we might be able to think of very valid reasons why we cannot possibly step out and risk our position to further God’s purposes. But, like Esther, we are also called to come to the brave decision to do so anyway. If the Lord is truly our Lord we can come to no other conclusion.

Lord, please grant me the courage to step out of the shadows bravely and to take my stand for the glory and honour of Your name. Empower me, Lord, to see myself as a willing agent of Your will, wherever I am. In the Name of the Greatest Servant of Your Will – Jesus. Amen.