“Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14

The Book of Esther is a remarkable story concerning Jews dispersed throughout Persia. It comes at a time when their period of exile was coming to a close and some Jews had already returned to Jerusalem. Others chose to remain. These were undoubtedly those who had managed to carve out a decent life in a foreign country and were not being persecuted. At least not yet.

The story revolves around a beautiful young Jewish woman who wins a “beauty contest” and is selected by the king as the new Queen of Persia. Though it’s the only book in the Bible that does not mention God, it nonetheless shows how God moves behind the scenes and events of history to work His perfect will for His people. In this case, it is the Jews; in our case today, it is the body of Christ, but in either case God’s hand is moving, as Mark Heard used to sing about seeing “the strong hand of love hidden in the shadows.”

It’s an applicable book for today in that these are perilous times, and in times like these, it is sometimes hard to see God as in control. That strong hand seems to remain hidden, yet it is there all the same. And this is why we look for what God wants us to do in such a time as this. We are here for a reason. God makes no mistakes.

For this reason, we can be excited, even optimistic, about being alive right now. God is with us. We are His church. We are scattered about in “exile” in a world that does not recognize Him, but nevertheless we do, and we are here for such a time as this. It is only for us to believe; to trust in His Spirit in us and find out why we are here. If we have our eyes open, we will see, and we will find out a little more of the answer to that question each day just as Esther did. So join us for this important and timely study; you won’t want to miss a day, especially for such a time as this.