I don’t know about you, but when I watch the news, I can get overwhelmed. There is upheaval and turmoil everywhere you look. We see the effects of sin and the decision of broken people that cause pain and suffering in other people’s lives. One only has to look at Syria, Egypt, NSA/Snowden ordeal- and you could go on and on.

At VBS on Monday, we looked at the story of Esther. Esther was a Jewish girl who essentially won a beauty pageant to become Xerxes new queen. With her identity hidden as a Jewish woman in exile- Haman, a man who hated Jews plotted to exterminate Jews from the land. Her cousin, Mordecai found out about the plot and urged Esther to reveal that she was Jewish and to appeal to the king to be saved.

“Do not think that because you are in the king’s ouse you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will rise up from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.” Esther 4:13-14 (NIV)

Esther, was in a position of influence “for such a time as this.” Esther was in a place to save her people- even at the risk of her own life. There was divine purpose for Esther to become queen when she did- and she grasp the opportunity to speak for her people- saving them from destruction.

When I watch the news and get overwhelmed, I am reminded of Esther- who in the face of genocide was put in a position to move and influence those around her in a way that saved her people. We each have influence in the lives of the people around us. We each have the opportunity to speak love and life and grace where others speak fear and hate.  Some of us might be able to make a big difference in the important issues of our day. Others of us might be able to encourage someone with God’s love who believed that they were unlovable. But each of us has a divine purpose in our life to live our lives to love God and to share God with others by the way we love our neighbors.

We have been put into a time such as this for a purpose. Are we pursing that purpose or running away from it?