Esther 4 Devotional

Placed for a Purpose

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?””Esther 4:14 (BSB)

Haman's decree reaches every province, and the Jews respond with fasting, weeping, and sackcloth (4:1-3). Mordecai urges Esther to plead with the king. She reminds him that anyone who approaches the king unsummoned may be put to death, and she has not been called for thirty days (4:11). Mordecai replies that if she stays silent, deliverance will still come for the Jews from somewhere else, but she should consider whether she came to royal position for exactly this moment (4:13-14).

Mordecai's words take something for granted without naming God. The rescue of this people is certain, with or without Esther, yet her place in the palace is no accident. Esther asks the Jews in Susa to fast with her for three days, resolving to go in even if it costs her life (4:16). The outcome rests on God, not on her courage. Still, she has been put where she is for a reason, and so have you, wherever God has placed you today.

To think about: Where has God placed you right now, and who might need you to speak or act on their behalf?