Timely Faith

Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Esther 4:14

Just before Charles Colson was to preach to three hundred inmates at San Quentin Prison, a lockdown confined the prisoners to their cells. To the few allowed to attend, he decided to go ahead and give the complete message he had prepared. Later, when he expressed disappointment that the three hundred were unable to attend, he was told, “We videotaped your message and will be showing it numerous times to all twenty-two hundred prisoners.”

What if Colson had, as he first considered, just given a short devotional to the several Christians who were allowed to attend instead of the full evangelistic message he had prepared? More than two thousand needy souls would not have heard the gospel.

Being faithful in unlikely circumstances is what Esther is remembered for. As the newly appointed queen of Persia, she gained the ear of the king to plead for the safety of the Jews, who were about to be massacred. The king responded, and the Jewish people were saved.

An occasion may arise when you are the only person available to speak for God. Will you be faithful in such a moment as that? You are the most important person in the world to God when you are the one He has called to do something for Him.