Day Forty

Esther 4:12-16

         Most of us are familiar with the Book of Esther, a book of the captivity. Esther, a Jewish woman who was also queen of the Persian Empire, is faced with going to the King to seek deliverance for her people. The King didn’t know she was a Jew and had allowed Haman, basically the prime minister, to pass a law that would see all the Jews killed throughout the kingdom. Esther was told by the man who had raised her after the death of her parents, Mordecai, that she needed to go to the King and appeal to him. Esther was fearful of doing this because the law was that anyone who went to the King uncalled for could be put to death. Anyone, including the queen. So she sends word back to Mordecai that this would not be a good idea. This is where this passage picks up.

¹² And they told Mordecai what Esther had said.

¹³ Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.

¹⁴ For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  

¹⁵ Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,

¹⁶ “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”

         Just imagine that you had been born in 1847 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chattanooga was primarily known for two things in 1847. First, it was the railroad hub for the whole South. Almost anything that went by rail passed through the city. Everything from cotton to cattle to people. Geographically, it was ideally positioned. Secondly, Chattanooga was known for the abundance of its churches. The people were dedicated Christians, true followers of Christ. That was still true in the mid-1970s when I lived there for college, although now it is some different. But in 1847, as soon as your mother could get around following your birth, you would have been in church. You would grow up in church. You would meet your true love in church and get married in church and then you would take your own children to church. It was easy to be a Christian in Chattanooga.

         Now, however, it is the 21^st century. This area of Indiana is still a pretty easy place to be a Christian, but much of the rest of the country is such that you have to be a warrior to get by as a dedicated Christian. We see the sewer that is sin spreading and choking off Godliness on every hand. We see it in movies and TV and books and music and politics and the schools and, yes, even in the churches. No longer are there places where it is easier to be a saint than a sinner. These are dark times.

         So, what is this doing to Christianity? The attacks on Christianity, both out in the open and the more subtle attacks, are tearing denominations and churches down. People are trying to appease man at the expense of God. But is this a bad thing?

         I don’t think so. Even back in 1847 in Chattanooga there were lots of ‘religious’ people. Folks who went to church and did all the churchy things but were far from being committed Christians. They did the church thing because if they didn’t it would wreck their businesses or hurt them politically. They blended in to the church scene. Now, however, they don’t have to pretend. They can be as openly evil as they want. For the real Christian, though, it is easier to see the dedicated Christian because they live a dedicated life.

         So it was for the Jews in captivity. Some Jews stood firm for God while other Jews went along to get along. It took great courage to live as a Jew when all the Jews were slated for death.

         Verse sixteen above ends with “if I perish I perish.” Esther had agreed to put her life on the line for the Jews. Would you do that? Would you put your life on the line to save other Christians? True courage on Esther’s part. And it all worked out.

         But something that Mordecai said always stays with me. Verse fourteen; For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  That last sentence burns in me. Any of us could have been born in 1847 and been able to coast through our lives as Christians, but WE WERE BORN FOR NOW! The Lord has a special job for us in these dark times. And if He has a special job for us, He will equip us for that job. The equipping/training phase begins with prayer, which is what the last forty days have been about.

         Today’s prayer is to thank God for putting you right here, right now. It is difficult and it will get more difficult. But prayer and the reading of the Scripture will set you on your way to being ready.

         Blessings!