The picture is of Jermiah and Kati long before they married, but placed in the right place at the right time to meet each other when mutually needed.
“ . . . who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
I love this verse, because it often reminds me that Christ is in charge of everything in my life, even the time and place of my birth. As you may know this verse is from the book of Esther, and images of her being a beautiful queen saving her people may come to mind when thinking of her story. But often we don’t think about the rest of the story.
In order for her to get in that position, she was, for her beauty alone, picked to be in the king’s harem after he banished his previous queen and took her royal estate. Do you know why he had banished the queen and taken her royal estate? He was throwing a large feast, and in the middle of it, he thought, “Oh, I want to show off my beautiful queen,” and she said, “No. I don’t want to.” That’s it. She told him that she didn’t want to join his party and be shown off like a prize, and he couldn’t have her, or any other woman in the kingdom, think that it was okay to tell her husband, “No.” From that alone, we can infer that the man, not only had great power, but was thrilled to remind everyone about it.
So let’s look at Esther’s story. She had lost both of her parents when she was young possibly when a different king had displaced the people of Israel. Since becoming an orphan, she had been raised by a close relative, Mordecai. We’re not sure how close they were to the local Jewish community since both of them had been taken captive from their homeland. Maybe Esther had dreams of marrying a Jewish man and raising children in their shared customs and traditions so they wouldn’t be lost in this new world? We’re not told.
Anyway, after a while with no queen, the king realized that he wanted a queen again. So, he had his men go to each region in his kingdom and pick out young, pretty, and . . . um . . . inexperienced women; take them from their families; and add them to his special harem of queen candidates. It was kind of like The Bachelor, but the women were voluntold to appear if they were pretty . . . and young.
After being determined to be one of the beautiful young women in the kingdom, Esther went through at least a yearlong beautification process with all the other contestants that included overnight stays with the king. I imagine a very angry season of The Bachelor, but the consequences for disappointing the king could be more than just sending you back to your home, and you were only allowed to be in his presence if he was in the mood to see you. In fact, he could have you killed if you came to him without being asked.
During this drawn-out process, Esther didn’t pout and become self-absorbed about the potential family she could have had. She didn’t whine about her isolation and restriction of freedoms and self-will. She took the time to make the most of each day. She took opportunities to acknowledge the servants and maids that had been placed around her. She communicated with them and acknowledged them for doing their jobs well. In doing so, they trusted her and took good care of her. They made sure that she had the beauty treatments and appearance that would please the king. As a result of this (and the natural beauty God had given her), she stood out from all the others and was selected as queen.
Now that she was queen, it wasn’t the next day that she was able to save her people. It could have been about five years. So what did she do in the meantime? Based on the trust she had of her servants and the king, you can assume, she took care of them and was faithful much like Joseph during his slavery and then imprisonment in Egypt. When the time came to save her people, she was able to approach the king without a summons and then, on top of that, make a request that could have challenged his authority.
How are we different than Esther? Long story short, we often want to be the queen that saves her people or the king’s secondhand man, like Joseph, that saves his entire family, but do we want to live the lives they lived? Do we want to see each day as purposeful when it’s not filled with man’s glory or human comfort? Both Esther and Joseph went through trials, but in the midst of them, they chose purpose, destiny, and taking care of those around them regardless of their fear.
In Esther’s case, she acknowledged the fear and risk she was taking, and, “Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, ‘Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14)
From the other side, when we’re not queens or kings, do we acknowledge that God is preparing us for our destiny and purpose? He knew when we’d be born, where we’d be born, and to whom we’d be born. He knew each thing about our lives as well as each gift and resource He’d give us. Our job may be to simply live a life of principle and obedience to God so that others have an example to follow. We may be asked to influence those with power. We may be asked to grow crops and food so that our family and others don’t starve. We may be asked to overcome generational abuse, so that our children and grandchildren don’t have the same pain we live with.
Whatever our struggle is, trust that God gave it to us to show His glory to others, and He’s given us what we need to overcome. This life may seem difficult at times, but it is simply a test to see if we can trust that He’s there for us, to see if we choose Him and His truth instead of the lies of selfishness from Satan.
“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
Revelation 2:10
– Written by Kati
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