FOR SUCH A TIME

The familiar verse from the Book of Ester says, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” (4:14) We know that Ester did intervene and save her people from great pain and death before King Ahasuerus from the evil plans of Haman. It is from this story we get the phrase “for such a time as this.”

It has occurred to me many times that we live for ‘such a time as this’ because this is when we are alive to do what we do. But it has also occurred to me to be careful to remember ‘such a time as then.’ Then being yesterday and our experiences and histories. In other words, it is difficult to relate and be effective today without the clear history of how we got to today. Or, to understand ‘such a time as this’ without it being wrapped in ‘such a time as then.’

Such a time as then might be remembering a more simple time, a slower time, a quieter time, a less technical time, a less angry time, a less violent time, a time with less woke-smoke and simply being consciously awake, a time when our faith was discussed without politics, a time when money was money and not crypto currency or as Merle Haggard wrote, “Wish a Ford and Chevy still last ten years like they should.” I am not trying to go backwards but I am trying to go forward bravely and informed.

We cannot live in the past but it is from our ‘such a time as then’ we make ourselves ready for ‘such a time as this’ just as Queen Ester. May we be as bold and courageous as she.

“Yes, I’m telling you these things now, so that when they happen, you will remember my warning. I didn’t tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer.” Jesus