"For Such a Time as This"

The subject of worldviews has become more and more common in my conversations due to the ministry of Summit. As a student, I was introduced to this concept and as a staff member this year, I am learning to relate it to the small group. Worldviews are so very important to understand, mainly because everyone has one. Whether we know it or not, our choices are shaped by our worldviews. Another issue I have been reading about is related to Esther. There is a particular passage that is a challenge for us.

Esther 4:10-16

"Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, 'All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law - to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.' And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. 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. 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?' Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, '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 an 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."

First off, I see that Mordecai and Esther become aware of this threat to their people and then the need for them to speak up. They identified a huge thing going on in their culture that they couldn't be silent about. Today, we as youth need to be aware of what is going on on a daily basis. Sometimes, I find myself getting lost from day to day-letting time go by without being informed of what steps are being made away from the truths we hold to.
The next important thing that I see is that Mordecai makes clear that God is in complete control. He informs Esther that she will not escape death more than any other Jew and whether she says something or not, deliverance will come. God has the people in His hands, whether or not Esther will decide to say what she know needs to be said. We must realize that God has the authority and control that we so often seek to take into our own hands.
The last major point I see in this passage is that Mordecai puts an important and wonderful question to Esther: "And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" God has a plan and purpose for each of us and if we choose to ignore that, we are not fulfilling His blueprint for us. We are not just here to squander away each moment, letting the truth in our hearts be buried deeper and deeper. Just as Esther realized that God had put her in a certain position to be an influence, we need to be ready to step up to what God has called us to.