Many people living in difficult times, when they look around, ask themselves many questions for which there seem to be no answers. Perhaps sometimes we wish we had been born in a different time, not in this one where we witness the escalation of evil in the world.
Such thoughts probably crossed Esther's mind when her people faced the threat of death.
Her story is quite interesting. She was raised by her relative, Mordecai. When King Ahasuerus needs to choose a new wife, his servants gather all the beautiful young maidens in the palace. There are many girls, as we read in the text from Esther, ch.2, v.8, but the king favors Esther, and she becomes queen. Driven by his hatred for Mordecai, the treacherous royal courtier, Haman, convinces King Ahasuerus to destroy the entire Jewish population.
Because of one malevolent person, an entire nation suffers, and it is the people of God. We have seen similar injustices before, and we might be witnessing something similar now. At that moment, however, we see why Esther was truly chosen to become queen. The words Mordecai speaks to her have always been very inspiring to me: “For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther, ch.4, v.14).
Esther faces an enormous risk: there is a law that anyone who enters uninvited to the king must be put to death unless the king grants them mercy. Esther realizes her life is in danger, but she makes the choice to do what is necessary to save her people, regardless of the consequences.
God would not abandon His people and would provide assistance. His choice for that moment was for help to come through Esther. What she does is agree to be an instrument in God's hand.
The fact that we were born in this historical time has meaning. Perhaps we see great evil and injustices around us and ask: “Why?” In reality, the right question would be: “What could I do?”
Let us remember that the Lord never stops working in this world, whether we see it at the moment or not, and let us choose to be instruments in His hand. Even if it seems there is risk, it is far greater if we decide to do nothing.
*Bible quotes are from the revised edition of the Bible © Bulgarian Bible Society 2015