In The Right Place At The Right Time

[Mordecai said,] “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 queen for just such a time as this?”

Esther 4:14

Esther was God’s princess whom God placed in the right place at the right time to deliver his people. Esther was a Jew living in Babylonia, which was under Persian rule. There were many Jews in the land because the Jewish people had been taken captive and brought there long before. When they were released, many chose to stay because they had homes and families in Babylonia. They didn’t want to make the long trip back to their homeland.

There was a man named Haman who was a powerful official in the Persian kingdom. He thought all the people should bow to him when he went by, but Mordecai, Esther’s cousin, wouldn’t bow before him. Haman knew Mordecai was a Jew and made a plan to get rid of him and all the other Jews. Haman didn’t realize Esther was also a Jew and a relative of Mordecai’s.

Mordecai found out about Haman’s plan and asked Esther to talk to the king, her husband, about it. Esther was nervous about approaching the king, who didn’t know she was a Jew, but Mordecai told her that God might have put her in the palace for the very reason of saving the Jews. Esther realized he was right, so she told the king about Haman’s plan and revealed that she, too, was a Jew.

The king had Haman killed, and the Jews were allowed to defend themselves against those trying to destroy them and were victorious in that effort.

God put Esther in a certain place to accomplish something. Esther didn’t know ahead of time that was why she was there, so some of the things that happened to her may not have made sense at the time. But it was all part of God’s plan.

You don’t know all that God wants you to accomplish for him, but be aware that he may allow certain things to happen in your life to get you where he needs you to be. As you go through the day, remind yourself that God has you where you are “for just such a time as this.”

Esther made a big difference for the Jewish people because she was willing to be used where she was. Take time to read through the book of Esther, and allow God to speak to you through her story.