“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? ” Esther 4:14 (ESV)
We read this passage and picture a confident bold woman marching into the King, ready to challenge the unjust decree against her nation. This is far from the truth that is found in the full story.
Esther was a young, vulnerable woman – armed with a few attributes that ultimately became weapons through the hand of God and brought deliverance. No foot stomping, no raised voice, no screaming demands or threats were needed. Trust, humility, obedience and the wisdom of God were carried on her head and shoulders as she entered the throne room.
Esther trusted her uncle’s advice and trusted that God was in charge of the situation. Armed with that trust she stepped under a mantle of humility as she accepted the presented task. With that spirit of humility, she requested help. It was time to pray! She entrusted this time of prayer and fasting to those that she was willingly stepping in the gap to save. It was this designated time in the presence of God that brought his intervention.
I don’t believe that the three days of prayer and fasting were easy for her. Just as Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane asked for a way out “if it be possible let this cup pass from me”; she also, had to come to a place of obedience at all cost. Esther’s obedience- her YES Lord – came during that time of prayer, waiting, listening, and trusting in a God who is good ALL the time – “even if” the answer might be NO.
The wisdom of God began to seep into her quieted mind sometime during those days of waiting in His presence. It was here that she was given very specific plans; and the only agenda she went into the throne room with, was God’s. Following those plans – doing it God’s way, turned the tables of history. Most of us would NOT have invited the King and our enemy over for dinner.
Esther came before the king – confident – but confident that God was in control.
She glided into that room with humility and the favor of God that stirred the King; not only did he hold the scepter out to her, invite her to him, deliver her from the law of death but he also offered her the ability to ask for whatever she desired. Now that is FAVOR! That favor delivered an entire nation from death.
This is a great inspiring story, but what does it have to do with us – now – today?
This story shows us our place in prayer. Our ability to step into the gap – to go into the throne room – to carry requests for deliverance to Our King, and it is a choice set before each of us. We have been gifted, free of charge, great-unlimited access! When we obediently enter His presence with complete trust and humility, our Father always listens. Wisdom, direction, freedom and deliverance are only a breath away.
Don’t step back, wait or think you will stand in prayer for that person, that situation, that illness, that event – next time or “maybe tomorrow”. Take your place on the wall – stand in the gap between the broken and the needy; be willingly to lay down your agenda and with trust and obedience boldly go to the throne room of our Father – for it is TIME to pray.
“And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
Unearthing His Treasures 