For Such a Time as This
© 2007, Steph Gutmann
A lot of talk goes on in the Church about our “God-given purpose” and calling etc.. Some of us may have been able to identify what that is, knowing where we are going and what God needs us to do.
But there may be others who can’t identify with anything said about “your purpose” or knowing who you are or where you are going. For you, life is about what you face when you wake up each day; or you have to focus so much on “the now” you can’t even begin to think about the future, or maybe it has never even occurred to you to consider your future - your philosophy is to “live each day as it comes!” Maybe you have it rough, and the idea of God piling anything more onto your shoulders is more than you can bear.
Let’s consider one girl who had it rough:
This girl lived in a time of uncertainty & war. Her family was turfed out of their home when she was young, and were taken as prisoners to another country, her parents died, maybe as a result of the struggles of the war, and only one family member was left – a man, an older cousin, who took her in to raise her. Do you think she had any hopes for her future, or any desires to make any plans for her life? Do you think she even considered that maybe there was a calling over her? Esther, God’s chosen girl… raised from despair and poverty, to life in the royal palace as queen!
But...
… and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded—… to every people in their language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king’s signet ring. And the letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar,… A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for that day… The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.”
Esther never knew what God had in store for her, but she did not allow life’s blows to make her bitter or angry, instead she was able to be to others the calm they needed in a time of turmoil; and a peacemaker in a time of war.
Esther recognised what God wanted to do through her, recognising the time God wanted to use her to save her generation! To save her nation! To save a people enslaved, broken, confused and against whom the death warrant had been signed, sealed & delivered! Esther recognised that if she didn’t stand up and say something, no-one else would and a whole generation would be wiped out.
In the same way God needs you to recognise that you are strategically placed! You may not know the reality of who Jesus is for yourself at the moment, but that doesn’t alter the fact God has a plan for your life… you may not feel you really live as a Christian, again that doesn’t mean God doesn’t have a plan for you. He does.
Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord.
“They are plans for good and not for disaster,
to give you a future and a hope.
He needs you to look around you – to see the generation of people He has placed around you. People living in fear, scared about what today holds for them: the gun & knife crimes, the killings, the fighting, the war we are living in – even in London; a generation without parents, being taught by others how to live life; The “easy answers” the world seems to offer – sex, drugs, money, celebrity lifestyle; The shallow world of keeping up appearances and looking good or sexy or whatever…
This is a generation built on insecurity and deception. A generation against who the death warrant has been sent out.
God needs someone to stand up, to be willing to save a generation by living in a different way – being the peacemaker, the love, the light, the calm amongst the turmoil.
Someone who won’t ignore the decree of destruction over this generation, but will rise against their own fear of being ridiculed; who has considered the cost of saving many lives into the Kingdom of God worth more than their own life.
Who knows…
Kingdom of God for such a time as this.
