Passage
“Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” — Esther 4:14
Reflection
Mordecai says this to Esther at the worst possible moment: there’s a plan to destroy her people, and she, because of her unique position, might be the only one who can do something about it. He doesn’t tell her that anyone could do what she’s about to do. He tells her the opposite: that her specific position, at that specific moment, made her the right person.
There’s a question that tends to show up disguised as others: does what I do, in this place, at this moment, actually matter? If you left this job, this group, this pending conversation, would anything really change? Mordecai’s question suggests it would, even if where you are today looks nothing like a queen’s palace.
It’s worth noting that Esther didn’t arrive at that position by a path she would have chosen herself. She was taken to the palace under circumstances she didn’t control. And yet it was exactly that unchosen path that put her in the one place from which she could act. Your place today, chosen or not, can be that place too.
Prayer
Lord, sometimes I doubt whether my current place really matters. Help me see, as Esther had to see, that maybe I arrived exactly here for this moment. Give me the courage to act where I am, instead of waiting for a bigger stage to feel useful. Amen.