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For Such a Time as This

Words of Faith Final

For Such a Time as This
Words of Faith 6-11-2021
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2008, 2021
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Esther 4
       [12] When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, [13] 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. [14] 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 royal position for such a time as this?"

      The organized massacre (pogrom) of the Jewish people in Persia was now set to occur on a specific date.  Esther had to choose whether to try and intervene or play it safe in the palace.   Mordecai challenged the safety of Esther's palace with words that are as powerful today as they were 24 centuries ago.  "Don't think that you will escape if you are silent."
        But speaking out can be costly as well.  Late in the summer of 1938, the concentration camps had been prepared in Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen,  Germany.  On November 11, 1938, 191 synagogues were set ablaze and 76 were completely destroyed.  The next day, 7,500 Jewish businesses were destroyed shattering shop windows and littering the streets with glass.  Because of this shattering of glass, the pogrom was called Kristallnacht.  30,000 Jews were incarcerated.  All this happened based upon a question regarding passport validity for Polish Jews.   
        On November16, 1938, a week after Kristallnacht, a courageous pastor named  J. von Jan preached to his congregation in Swabia these words:  "Houses of worship, sacred to others, have been burned down with impunity and men who have locally served our nation and conscientiously done their duty have been thrown into concentration camps simply because they belong to a different race.  Our nations' infamy is bound to bring about Divine punishment."
        Was Pastor von Jan praised for taking a stand for the Gospel?  No, Pastor von Jan was dragged out of his Bible class by a mob.  He was brutally beaten, then thrown onto the roof of a shed.  The mob then smashed his vicarage, just as, a week earlier, so many Jewish houses had been smashed.  Pastor Jan was imprisoned because he was not smart enough to stay silent.  (Leni Yahil, The Holocaust 1990;  Gilbert, Martin.  The Holocaust. 1986).
          Speaking out can be costly, but NOT speaking out can be even more costly.
          Mordecai asked the critical question of the book of Esther: "And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?"   Who knows if they are intended by the sovereignty of God to be in the right place at the right time to make real a difference?  Sure.  You might be beaten, jailed, or even killed.  But if you remain silent, you may miss the very thing that you were born to do!   There was no guarantee for Esther.  There is no guarantee for you or me.  We can only do the right thing.  And who knows-- but that you have come to this place and time in your life for such a time as this?   Not acting could cost you everything.
         There is another wonderful thing in this passage.  We have already noted that the name of God is never directly mentioned in the entire book of Esther.  But in verse 14 there is a word that reflects an ancient Jewish name for God.  "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from 'another place'."  The phrase HaMakom-- "another place"-- is a mystical reference to God.  The sovereignty of Almighty God is always at work toward the end that He wills and desires.
           "And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" No one recognized this truth more than Jesus Himself.  His words in Gethsemane are familiar.  He cried out to His Father: "If there is any other way... let this cup pass from me.  Nevertheless, not my will but Thy will be done."  And then He set His face toward the cross-- realizing it was for such a time as this that He had come into the world.  

            Lord, I give thanks that when I needed You the most you were not a bystander.  Lord, show me the moment for which I was born and give me the grace to respond to Your call into that moment You have planned for me.  In Jesus' name. Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2008, 2021
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.