Mission Unknown?
“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, … And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?"” (Esther 4:14)
Awareness has powerful effects – it can save you or kill you. While visiting one National Park recently, we were involved in conversations about the wild. It is said that when you see a lion, you can survive being eaten if you stay calm; the lion will not attack. This is similar to the advice given when one meets a strange dog – you are advised not to run away or act aggressively, or else it will attack. But how can you really stay calm in the face of a lion? Only a little child unaware of the danger can stay calm; even a dangerous venomous snake can pass a sleeping child in the compound without attacking because there is neither fear nor aggression against it. The child is thus saved by his ignorance or unawareness. But not so when the lion is hungry!
Queen Esther was probably as calm and unaware as that sleeping child while ‘there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing’ because of the looming xenophobic annihilation edict sponsored and propagated by Haman (Est 4:3-8). Esther was basking in the luxuries of the palace completely unaware of the advancing ‘lion’. When the lion is hungry, it doesn’t matter whether you run or stay calm, it just needs some food and any meat in the surrounding will do. The lion will devour even the ignorant; and this was Mordecai’s counsel to Esther – that she too would not survive!
There was an urgent mission; Mordecai could see it, but to Esther it was a mission unknown until she received the stern reprimand, ‘you have come to your royal position for such a time as this’. She then realized that she had to go against the odds of dignity, youthful immaturity and laws of an earthly king, in order to obey the Heavenly King whose chosen people were in danger and needed deliverance. Esther stepped into the deep waters and joined in fasting and prayer, and the Lord brought a victory that saved the entire nation.
Even today and in many different forms, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. There is mission to save God’s beloved people from the hungry lion. To many potential actors, it is a mission unknown! The purpose of this message is to call upon you to ‘be alert and of sober mind’ (1Pet 5:8) and to arise and play your part in the mission. Is it prayer, financial support, going out to preach door to door? Or is it just discussing the message at home to better your relationship with God and model a great example for your children… do you part. Just like Esther went an extra mile in prayer and preparation and God answered extra-ordinarily to save His people, you too will see the victory of the Lord before your very eyes.
God bless you all.