This morning I read Chapter 4 of Esther. The book is interesting because God is not mentioned once in the book, yet His presence and sovereignty is seen all throughout. You know the story. Mordecai, a Jewish exile, ticks off a man named Haman who is high in the King's court. Haman really doesn't like Mordecai or the Jews and enacts a dastardly plot to have all of them killed. It just so happens, though, that Mordecai's relative Esther is now the Queen because the previous Queen had refused the King's request to show the people how pretty she was.

This brings us to Chapter 4 where Mordecai basically asks Esther to entreat the King for mercy on behalf of the Jewish people. Esther pretty much says that she is afraid to do it. In verse 14 Mordecai responds with this:

"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?"

That last phrase really jumps out to me in personal application. Just as Mordecai was reminding Esther that God placed her in the exact circumstances she was in so that perhaps she would see God save many, I can hear God saying the same to me. "Travis, I ordained every single one of your circumstances. Every trial. Every person. Every hurt. Every joy. Everything. Each person in your sphere of influence has been placed there by ME. Lift up your eyes and realize that most of these people are facing destruction because their sin is between ME and them. I have called you to them for such a time as this. Speak up. Some of them are MY sheep. If you do not, please realize that I will bring someone else, but you will miss out. You will miss out on the joy of seeing ME transform a life from the inside out. You will miss out on experiencing ME. I have brought you into MY kingdom for such a time as this."

Travis