For Such a Time As This

Once upon a time, there was a young Jewish woman named Esther. She was an orphan who had been raised by her cousin Mordecai. The king was looking for a new wife and Esther was part of the pool of virgins to choose from. Esther was chosen, but she kept her ethnicity a secret. Mordecai learned of a plot to exterminate the Jews and told Esther about it. She was the obvious choice to speak to the king. Problem was, you could not approach the king if he had not requested your presence, on penalty of death. Now you might be thinking, yes but Esther is the queen and surely he would make an exception. Wrong. Esther's predecessor had been put to death for disobeying him. Now the king had not summoned Esther in over a month. Time was of the essence and Esther could not just sit around with the concubines and wait for her opportunity. She was going to have to create her opportunity.

Mordecai said, "Who knows but that you came into the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther pondered this and made her decision. She would simply go see the king. "And if I perish, I perish." The story does have a happy ending. The king was fine with Esther coming to see him, she let him know that she was indeed Jewish, told him about this horrific plot, and she saved her people.

Who knows why we are here, at this very moment in time, at this very place? I doubt Esther was flippant when she said, "If I perish, I perish." But really aren't there some things much more important than looking out for our own interests? Isn't there a time when the choice we must make is quite obvious? And despite the personal risk involved, we just do it and then live (or die) with the consequences?

Susan