Sunday Afternoon Tea - For Such a Time as This

"... Yet who knows whether you have

come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”"

Esther 4:14 

Not too long ago, a friend and I were chatting about world events over a cup of coffee in her kitchen.  She mentioned that she had been warned to be careful what she puts on the Internet as it could be used against her should Christians become physically persecuted in America.

I laughed and told her I'd crossed that line a very long time ago.  Back in the 1980s, my husband and I used to say if Christianity were made illegal, we wouldn't last five minutes there is so much "out there" that we had said and done.

For instance, somewhere in our memories box, there is the front section of a well known newspaper with my husband's photo right there front and center.  It was the year he was in charge of a Christian Coalition campaign for our part of the state.  That alone would seal his fate.

Esther 4:14 has been one of my "life verses" for as long as I can remember.  I held onto it when I was active in politics and Christian political organizations.  I loved the Book of Esther so much that I studied it over and over and eventually wrote a Bible Study about how it relates to our world today.  I taught that Study many times.

But here is the deal... that was when I was doing.  A lot.  Speaking.  Talking.  Teaching.  Giving out pamphlets and other Truth. The world was falling apart and both my husband and I were on the front lines to slow down the darkness overtaking the country.  I say slow down for I think it was the Founder of Concerned Women for America who said we know it could not be stopped... only slowed.

The same week my friend and I chatted about the startling moral downfall of America, I had a letter from a long time friend.  She stated in it that we are now seeing those events unfold that we were warned against decades ago.  So why are we so shocked?  But we are...

I considered her question and told my husband that I don't think shocked is the correct word.  I thought instead of the term Scripture gave to Lot's feelings... vexed.  In the second chapter of 2nd Peter, we are told that Lot was vexed in his soul with what was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah.

I am vexed.  Not taken by surprised.  Neither overwhelmed, really.  Vexed.  A good King James Version word.

Being a pondering kind of person, I thought about that a lot since then.  Health concerns and the consequences they bring keep us from the front lines of the battle. So I really hadn't read Esther 4:14 for awhile.

Until I was pondering.  Until God spoke to me in that Still Small Voice that He uses to share Truth.  "There is more to that verse, Brenda. Think about it.  Ponder it.  What does it tell you about the world in which you live today?"

Then the Truth began to dawn like the morning sun rising above the horizon.  Gently at first.  A little insight here.  A little clarity there. Then an all out blaze of Glory and Truth.

I am here for such a time as this.  You are here for such a time as this.  We are abiding in the place and in the generation for which He planned before the dawn of the Age that we live.

I used to teach that God not only positioned Esther for her place on the World's Stage.  He prepared her.  She was obviously created to be quite beautiful.  One must be to win over a pagan King.  I doubt he looks at the heart very much.  So she was probably quite stunning to look upon.  God's idea you know.

But she had to be smart and wise and discerning.  She had to be brave.  She also had to be bruised and hurt at one time.  For how did she come to live with her Uncle and not her parents?  Life had not been easy for her.  A young Jewish woman who finds herself in the harem of a pagan ruler.

She didn't know she would be Queen.  She had no idea that thousands of years later, her people... those very descendents that she saved... would celebrate the Feast of Purim.

She, along with the other Jews, were in this place against their will.  Captives in a foreign land.  This was God's Will?  Well, he tried to warn them that if they continued in their ways they would be taken captive.  They did.  They were.  Captives that is...

You know what?  He prepared you and me, too.  What we have gone through, what we experienced in our lives.  It was not there by accident.  

We are vexed in our very soul as we see the immorality taking over our beloved country.  For many of us (me and my household included), we are bewildered by the decisions of the current Administration.  They so often make no sense at all.

What will happen to my children?  To my grandchildren?  GOD!!!!

What will happen?  We pray for them daily.  We ask God for protection and wisdom and discernment and all those things we desire for those we love.  But then we remember... They were chosen for their time on the planet.  They are there, not by accident... by God's Will.

God has positioned them.  God is preparing them.  Like Esther's day, the world has turned upside down.  There are wars and rumors of wars.  There are mad men chopping off the heads of Christians throughout the Middle East to please their god.  There is terrorism on our own soil.  That which was not spoken of in genteel places has now been made the Law of the Land.

But we are not here at this time by accident.  You may be like me and no longer on the front lines of the Battle between Good and Evil.  But you are where God wants you and you can become a prayer warrior.  For that is what is needed for the next generation.  Godly praying men and women covering those on the front lines with His Word and His Protection.

You may still be in the Battle of the Ages.  You may be so close you can smell the smoke of Hades.  Stay in His Word.  Talk to Him.  Stay close to others in the Battle.  This will not be the time of the lone warrior.  Find your own Fellowship of the Ring Coming King.

Instead of ringing my hands at the state of this country and the terror in the world, Esther reminded me that as long as I have breath, I'm still in the fight.  Right. Where. He. Wants. Me.  And you.  And us.  Together.  United.

Forget our squabbles about Eschatology, how and when and why and what about His Return.  Look around you.  The battle rages.  And get excited.  And if all you can do is pray that is a whole lot.  It is the essential part of this fight, you know.

Do what He tells you to do.  If He says to deepen your pantry, stock up.  Ask Him for financial provision to do so and if that is His Voice speaking, He provides.  If He says to move.  Move.  If He tells you to stay right where you are.  Stay put. 

If the road ahead looks impossible.  Good.  That means He has placed you right where He wants you for only by clinging to Him will you walk the Path He has chosen.

What does the Word say?  When you see all this happen... look up.  Rejoice.  The battle is almost won.

As another book puts it... Aslan is on the move.

Image:  Chronicles of Narnia, the movie