I began my morning with my bible app and a cup of tea overlooking the most spectacular view. Dramatic hills in the background, opulent sky, the cascading blue waters of Samana Bay splashing against the rocks and the sun warming my face. We had dodged the last snow storm in Toronto and were sunning in a beautiful resort in the Dominican Republic.

I have been reading through the book of Esther, in the Old Testament. If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to do so. It is a wonderful book. As I was reading, on this beautiful day, this verse struck me:

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise 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 4:14

This verse was spoken to Esther because she found herself in a position to rescue her people, the Jews, from death. But, if she followed through with her plans to intervene, she put her own life at risk because of the laws at that time. Esther was reluctant, but she trusted that God sovereignly put her in that position at that time to do what needed to be done.

This is true for each of us as well. God has a plan for you and for me. And there will be times when God will ask us to do things that are difficult. But could it be that all we have experienced, the very place where God has put right now is for such a time as this? It’s not that God can’t accomplish His plans without us, God most certainly can. But God invites us to participate because in doing so it strengthens our faith.

As we continue to walk with God and abide in God, may we like Esther be found faithful.