For Such a Time as This

Fear is a funny thing.

Have you ever read the story of Esther in the Bible? It’s a cool story about a beautiful Jewish girl named Hadassah who lived in Persia during the reign of King Xerxes. She was basically kidnapped and taken into the king’s harem. She was chosen by the king to be his queen. He had just sent his previous queen packing for defying him. Hadassah’s uncle, Mordecai, had warned her not to tell anyone she was Jewish, since the political climate at the time was a bit anti-Semitic, and her life could be in danger if the wrong people knew. Therefore, he told her to go by Esther, a name common in the Persian empire.

Well, time goes by and behold! Haman, the king’s right-hand man, comes to hate Mordecai, and now wants to annihilate the Jews. So he convinces the king that it’s a good idea to wipe them out. Now, there was a rule in the kingdom that you NEVER went into the king’s presence without being summoned. If you did, and the King didn’t make an exception, you were dead. Literally.

So Mordachai goes to tell Esther what has happened and that she has the power to stop this genocide by going to talk to the king. But she doesn’t want to go because the king hadn’t summoned her for a month. Who would want to go?! I wouldn’t!! Even if the king did make an exception for her (a politically dangerous thing for him to do for a woman), why would he believe her over Haman, who had the king’s favor? So she would not only have to go without being summoned, but also tell him (and Haman) that she was a Jew. So she told Mordachai, “No, find someone else!”

This is the clincher for me. Mordecai told her, “Do not think that you alone will escape the fate of everyone else, just because you’re the queen. If you keep silent, deliverance will come from somewhere else. But who knows, perhaps you have come to this position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-15 paraphrase, mine)

If you don’t know the rest of the story, go look it up. It’s a thriller, and I don’t want to ruin the plot. Actually, Hollywood made a pretty decent movie about it called, “One night with the King.”

Anyway, the point of the whole story is that fear seems so much bigger when we focus on it. When we focus on ourselves, we will always be paralyzed with fear. When we focus on God’s ability, His power lives through us victoriously.

Sounds good as an adult, but I am trying to get that across to a nine-year-old girl afraid of anything in the insect world. I can’t say that I blame her. Georgia has some BIG insects, much bigger than the West coast, and the wasps here can get a bit grumpy. But that fear paralyzes her to the point where she won’t go outside to water the plants if she sees a wasp.

Sigh…

So, I keep on praying that God’s power to overcome fear will live through her. His plans for us are so much bigger than our own plans, even mine. I want her to live without fear. He wants so much more...

In the thick of it right along with you.

God Bless,
Brandie

P.S. Thank you to Cory Hallett of Riverstone Church and to Big Idea Productions for inspiration for this blog.