Esther 4:14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place….”
I wish my confidence in God stood as strong as Mordecai’s.
The book of Esther illustrates the power of his unflinching trust in God. An edict had been given that all the Jews living in the Persian Empire were to be slaughtered. It seemingly came out of nowhere. An incensed official, angered over Mordecai’s refusal to bow to him, persuaded the king to set a date for Jewish annihilation. Kings’ edicts in those days proved irreversible. The Jews were exiles. They had no power. No means of defending themselves. They didn’t even have a country at this point in which to escape. If anyone had reason for pessimism, Mordecai did.
But rather than giving in to the quite formidable circumstances, Mordecai put all his trust in the sovereign God. He beseeched his adopted daughter, Esther, who happened to be the Queen, to go before the king and plead for her people. Knowing that going before the king unsummoned could mean her death, she resisted. That’s when Mordecai spoke some of the most powerful words of faith recorded in the Bible, “…if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place….”
His complete confidence in God—that even if the first plan failed, there would be another—never faltered. He knew God would rescue them whether or not Esther chose to be a part of the undertaking. His resolve proved to have such an effect on her that she willingly put her life on the line. “And if I perish, I perish” (4:16).
Esther didn’t perish. Neither did Mordecai. Neither did any of the Jews. God, indeed, delivered his people.
It makes me wonder how different the world would be if we took the kind of bold, no-holds-barred approach Mordecai displayed. His unabashed confidence affected not only Esther, but a whole nation. It stirred heaven. It moved earth.
Whatever circumstances you or someone you know may be facing right now, don’t be afraid to trust God, and trust him boldly. Believe he has a plan to bring you through the darkest night, the most dangerous threat. Who knows but that your faith and steadfast confidence in his sovereign goodness is not but meant “for such a time as this.”