I love the book of Esther. It’s such a great story. The most famous passages from Esther are Mordecai’s challenge to quit hiding behind her royalty and work to save her people and Esther’s response. Mordecai challenges Esther to “man up” for here people.
14 If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.” Esther 4:14-16 (NLT)
Reading this story today makes me wonder what difficult God is challenging me to “man up” on? Where am I living or considering my personal interests over the interests of others? Where has God palced me for “such a time as this”? I love the story of Esther because I know how it ends. Esther did not know how the King would respond to her intrusion into his court. She took a risk. What risk is God asking you to take? In what area of life is he asking you to “man up” that feels “life threatening”?
We only come to know the reality of God’s presence, leading and trustworthiness through situations that require more from us than we have to give. Why? It’s really quite simple. If we (I) can handle a situation without God we (I) will. Man up situations require us to trust God to make it through. They stretch us and grow us. They are the stories we tell. They are the memories we cherish. They are invitations we fear. Is it time to “man up”?
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