“Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14, NKJV)
Esther, the young Jewish exile who married Persian King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I), was in the right place at the right time to bring deliverance to her people. However, in the time leading up to this often-quoted verse above, Esther probably felt just the opposite. Being taken into the haram of a pagan king certainly felt like the wrong place to be. Hers was no storybook romance. Even after being chosen as queen, she still could not reveal her Jewish heritage or openly observe its laws.
If we look at just the bare facts of Esther’s situation, we might not recognize that the hand of God was already at work. In fact, God was working long before Esther was taken into the palace. Esther, probably just a teenager at the time, did not realize that she was part of God’s plan to save her people from the hand of wicked Haman. At just the right moment, God revealed His divine purpose for her and gave her the favor she needed to approach the king.
Esther’s story isn’t the only time that God worked in advance to position someone in just the right place at the right time.
- Joseph endured thirteen years of hardship and imprisonment while God positioned him to become second only to Pharaoh.
- Moses spent forty years being educated in the household of Pharaoh and another forty years learning life in the desert before God commissioned him as leader of the Israelites.
- Rahab lived in a strategic spot on the city wall long before the two Israelite spies needed someone to hide them and help them escape.
- David was anointed king several years before God actually placed him upon the throne. What lessons might he otherwise not have learned?
Numerous other times God orchestrated events at just the right time to fulfill His divine plan. Was it coincidence that Caesar Augustus decided to tax the world at the right time to place Joseph and Mary in Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus? Hardly. God was at work ahead of time to place them there at the exact time to fulfill prophecy.
You may wonder why God is absent from your situation. You’ve cried out to Him in prayer, but no answer is evident. Why is He silent? Does He not care about your situation? Or is He quietly at work in the background, moving all the pieces into place as only He can do?
Although you feel God is silent, He may be using this waiting time to benefit you.
- God may use this time to develop certain needed skills or to allow you grow in maturity.
- God’s delay may protect you from things that would cause you harm.
- God may be allowing you time to deepen your trust in Him.
Whatever your situation, don’t rush God. Even if you cannot see it now, He is at work on your behalf. Trust His plan.
“But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” (Micah 7:7, ESV)
“From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.” (Isaiah 64:4, ESV)
Lord, even when I don’t recognize Your hand at work, I believe You are there working for my good. Help me to trust You completely and to wait patiently for Your answer.
