It’s funny how total strangers – even people from another place and time can enter one’s life to teach a lesson! On my classroom windowsills, I have colorful, wooden blocks with bible verses and inspirational quotes. One of them says, “Perhaps you were born for such a time as this -“ a verse from the magnificent story of Queen Esther in the Old Testament. (If you haven’t read it, you really should! )
In life there are times of routine, times of chaos, times of joy, times of sadness…There are also times that are defining moments for each of us – a change in course or in standing up for something for which we really believe. Queen Esther faced one of these defining moments “with a heart frozen with fear” (15:5) and “with deathly anxiety” (14:1). (I can relate! Can you?)
Esther was very beautiful, and the King was enamored with her. Hence, she was asked to go to plead the cause of her people – to try to change the King’s mind about killing the Jews. Unbeknownst to the King, Esther was a Jew – one in disguise – so to speak. If the King found out about her heritage, surely Esther would be killed – and the people whom she hoped to save would perish as well. Everything was riding on Esther – or was it?
Mordecai, Esther’s guardian, encouraged her with these words, “For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, 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?” (4: 14)
Esther’s response was truly inspiring and showed her deep, trusting relationship with God. She humbled her body before the Lord and asked her people to fast and to pray along with her for three days and nights. Esther prayed, “Lord, make yourself known in this time of affliction, and give me courage.” (14:12) She asked God to rescue her people and to also “turn (the evil ones’) plan against themselves.” (14:11) Esther was successful in saving her people, but only because she allowed herself to be completely used by God for His Divine purpose.
As God shows time and again – through stories like those of Moses, Noah, Daniel and Esther – It is God who fulfills His own plans. As His unworthy servants, all we can do is pray, trust, then “show up” to (hopefully) be an instrument in God’s Mighty Hand.
What is my point in recapping this story for you? I have been away from my pen and paper here for quite sometime. When people have asked why I haven’t written, I have responded, “I think I’ve said all I have to say – I just don’t have it in me anymore.” What is probably more truthful is that “I’ve said all that I can say without fear or anxiety.” Revisiting Esther’s story has encouraged me to be steadfast in prayer and to try fasting again (It doesn’t come easily to me) – to overcome my fear – so as not to be silent at such a critical time.
The truth is that we have all been chosen for such a time as this. There are no accidents in God’s creative plan. God loved you into existence at a very particular moment in time so that you would be here today – in 2019!
Our world, the government and the Church is swirling with chaos and confusion. (This is not a news flash.) Here, almost nothing seems certain. People want TRUTH, but most don’t know what that is anymore.
There is nothing to be confused about. In a world full of change and turmoil, God never changes. He is the One we can depend upon to remain steady, true, loving, merciful and just every moment of every day, every month, every year, every decade, every generation…
This is not the time to remain silent. This is a defining moment – our defining moment as Christians! Will we submit to fear – fear of rejection, fear of being mocked or humiliated, fear of losing our livelihoods, fear of disapproval of family, fear of being killed..? “Lord, make yourself known in this time of affliction, and give us courage.”
Silent no more.
Catholic Working Mom 