Stewarding Today’s Opportunities (Esther 4:14)

For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
– Esther 4:14

This is probably the most well-known verse in the book of Esther. It’s Mordecai telling Esther, who’s the queen, that alone has the ability to go to the king and ask him to change a decree that he’s made that would annihilate all of the Jewish people. And Mordecai says, “Esther, it’s no accident that you’re the queen. You, a Jewish woman, have access to the king. Who knows whether you’ve not come to the kingdom for this specific purpose?”

Esther 4:14 pictures God’s providence working through everyday circumstances.

And one of the reasons this verse is so well known and why it is such a great verse is because it is a clear reminder to you and me that our lives… Where we live, where we work, where we go to school, the people we’re around… Not one of those things is an accident.

God is sovereign over every detail in our lives and our circumstances. And he is working in the details of our lives for the accomplishment of his good purposes. In our lives and through our lives and ultimately in the world. And I just want to encourage you with that reality today. Wherever you’re listening to this right now. It is not an accident that you live where you live. It’s not an accident that you know the people you know.

Even just think about the details of your life today. Not one of them is by accident. God, who is sovereign over all things in the world and all details in your life, has ordained today in your life for the accomplishment of his good purposes in and through your life. So let this infuse meaning into every moment, not one conversation you have today will be by accident. Not one interaction, not one moment to see that God is sovereign over it all.

Esther 4:14 invites us to embrace our role in God’s story.

And so to pray… God, please direct me. Use me, lead me, guide me. Bless me. Help me to accomplish your purposes in my life today. God, we pray that over the details of our days. Please help us to be sensitive to your Holy Spirit at every moment today. To make the most of every moment, to build up brothers and sisters in Christ, to share the gospel. To be salt and light around every single person we interact with today, who is not a follower of Jesus.

Help us to glorify you in our work, school, our families, our homes, and our communities. In every moment we have today. Help us to see your sovereign ordination of ordinary moments for the accomplishment of your ultimate purposes. Oh God, just like Esther, you’re calling to steward this moment. Help us to steward our moments today fully for others, good, for your glory, and for our joy.

Prayer for the Dharkar People

And God, as we pray for unreached people for the Dharkar people of India today. We pray God for the spread of your salvation among the Dharkar people. For 160,000 of them in India. And we pray that you would ordain details in your people’s lives around them in India from other parts of the world, for the spread of the gospel among them.

God, as we think about the opportunities we have today to spread your gospel around the world that are unprecedented, through travel, through technology, through wealth and resources that you’ve entrusted to us, God, we pray, help us to steward the time and place we live in for the spread of your glory among all the nations. We pray all this in light of your Word in Esther 4:14. In Jesus’ name, amen.