In life situations arise sometimes when doing the right thing, the courageous thing may buck the standards of what is considered status quo, bucking against established protocol, like salmon leaping persistently upstream. Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah, found herself in just such a situation. The name “Esther” means “hidden”, just as Esther’s Jewish identity was hidden from her Persian king/husband, Xerxes (aka Ahasuerus). When confronted with information of the impending planned extermination of her people by a wicked conniving enemy, Haman, she had a difficult and dangerous decision to make. It would require her bucking the protocol of the court of the king, approaching without being previously expected or invited. If her actions, violating the rules of protocol were not accepted she could be executed, but if she followed established protocol her people would perish:
“When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”(Megillat) Esther 4:12-16
In this day the ancestors of ancient Persia once again threaten not only the Jewish people, but the “Sunday” people, followers of Yeshua, as well as the rest of the free world. The descendants of Haman rattle their swords and rush towards creating their own nuclear arms and the desire to fulfill their apocalyptic plans. Benjamin Netanyahu has been forced to buck convention and US presidential protocol, having been invited by the US congress, but without presidential admission. He brings a critical, but for many, an unpopular message, with too many willing to ignore the message because of transgressions against protocol to the risk of their own ruin, just as when Winston Churchill courageously and relentlessly, often bucking protocol, warned against the deceit of Hitler and his coming Nazi war machine.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times.
But that is not for them to decide.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
Beloved, although you may or may not be standing on an international platform-but you have a specific station and sphere of influence, You, too, have been born for such a time as this! There are no mistakes in the Lord, the maker of Heaven and earth, and He has you right where you are, right now, for a God-given purpose. While it is not for us to decide the time we’ve been predestined to live in, it is for us to decide what to do with the time Almighty God has given to us.