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Recently, I was pondering the marvel and miracle that life is. Years ago, when I was pregnant with our first son, I had everything planned. We were living in The Netherlands at the time, and I had coordinated everything for a home birth. Two days before the due date, I started bleeding.
By the next morning, I was being rushed for an emergency C-section. The pain was excruciating. My placenta prematurely detached, and every contraction caused our son’s heart rate to plummet in the womb. God’s hand, through a successful surgical delivery, saved both our lives that day.
From Eve, every generation in my family has survived natural childbirth. My son and I would not have.
It got me thinking: what else have my ancestors survived?
War, famine, slavery, natural disasters, migration, disease, crime, and accidents were overcome through different lands and centuries for me to be here. The same is true for you.
My son and I were blessed to live in a time and place where a C-section is possible and safe. Has God used miracles, modern science, and engineering to save you too? I’m led to think about a significant line from the Book of Esther in the Bible. Could we be here “for such a time as this”?
The story of Esther is set in Susa, in Persia, in modern-day Iran where some Jews had been exiled. The Persian King Ahasuerus had a vast empire. He had a beautiful wife, Queen Vashti. On one occasion, King Ahasuerus was giving a feast for his nobles and officials and in his drunken state, called for Vashti so that he could show off her beauty to everyone. But Vashti refused to come.
The king, on the word of his advisors, banned Vashti from coming into his presence ever again. But after a while, the king started to miss Queen Vashti, so his servants advised him to send out for beautiful young virgins so that he could choose a new wife. Esther was one of these beautiful young women brought before the king.
Esther had no parents and had been raised by her older cousin, Mordecai. Mordecai instructed Esther not to tell anyone that she was Jewish. Esther entered Ahasuerus’ harem and went through a yearlong beautification process before even meeting the king. Out of all the women, Esther was chosen by the king to replace Vashti and wear the queen’s crown.
The king had an official named Haman who had it in for the Jews. He convinced the king to sign a decree to eliminate the Jews. Mordecai came to Esther to ask her to petition the king on behalf of their people. Esther wasn’t allowed to go to the king without being summoned, and if she did, he could decide to put her to death. She had a beautiful, comfortable life in the palace, and all that would be in jeopardy if she did, as Mordecai asked.
In Esther 4:13-14, there are 3 important statements that Mordecai communicates to his niece:
Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace, you will escape any more than all the other Jews.
Relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.
Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Let’s break these down.
“Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace, you will escape any more than all the other Jews.”
Esther may have thought that she might avoid persecution because she lived in the king’s palace. Around the world, Christians face persecution. What can we do with our freedom to follow Jesus this year?
Esther didn’t have to leave the palace, but she did have to take a risk to step up and speak out. Maybe there’s a risk God is calling you to take.
“Relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.”
Simply put, no matter what, God will deliver His people. You can’t stop God’s plan. If there’s something that He wants done, it will be done.
If Esther was unwilling to talk to the king, the Jews would still have been saved eventually. But where would that have left Esther? She didn’t want to be on the wrong side of God’s will, and we don’t either.
“Who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
This new year is an opportunity to ask God outright, “What can I do, Lord? Why have You placed me in this situation, in this family, home, town, and country, if not for such a time as this? Will You use me for Your glory?”
The people in your life have been given to you with intention. Even your interests, talents, strengths, and skills are yours for such a time as this.
Your ancestors have survived through the centuries for such a time as this.
God timed it all perfectly; He planned it all out, He placed you with intention in this time and place so that you could step up, lay your burdens down, pick up your cross, and follow Him so that He would be glorified in such a time as this.
Tischa Van de Reep is the author of Unpopular:
Following Jesus, Not the Crowd, a 7-session Bible study available on amazon.com.
Tischa is a Trinidad-born writer and speaker married to Harald, a Dutchman. She is a mental health and autism mom who brings authenticity and vulnerability to all her teachings on Scripture.
Her Bible study ministry brings diverse women together in fellowship and takes them deeper into God’s Word with her fresh insight and dynamic delivery.
For more information about Tischa, please visit: https://www.thesisterhoodmag.com/tischa-van-de-reep
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