For Such a Time as This

 

Okay, I am going to give away my age right now. I grew up during the 50s and 60s. The TV sitcom “Happy Days” showed it exactly like it was.

The girls dressed as cute as they could and our hair and makeup had to be perfect, while the boys wore letter jackets to show how successful they were as athletes, and they drove muscle cars to look and sound cool. We all had lots of face to face time and long conversations. Communication was great back then. Young people really have no idea what they are missing out on.

Things were basically peaceful and innocent back then. Those of us who lived during that time miss it and long for it to come back.

Everything is so different now. The Bible tells us that in the end days what is right will be called wrong, and what is wrong will be called right. It used to be considered honorable to stand for what is right, but now we are called haters and terrorists. I just keep reminding myself that the Bible also says that he who will not believe the truth will be allowed to believe a lie. That is what we are seeing here.

I thank God that we still have millions of people who know and believe the truth. That is the only thing that is holding this world together. When Jesus returns and takes us home the Christians will be gone and the world will have trouble like it has never dreamed of.

Many times I have wished I had been born about 20 years earlier so I would not have lived through the changes I have seen. The people born after us will see a lot more horrible changes than us.

I feel so happy to have lived through what it was like when we were in our teens. I also feel so sad to be living through what we are seeing now. So many times I have thought about how I don’t want to deal with what is happening now. It can be very sad and discouraging. It can also be very scary.

The other day I was thinking about how I wish I had been born a few years earlier so I wouldn’t be feeling all this stress and trying to hold onto our society. It seems determined to destroy itself, and we are desperately trying to prevent that. I actually get to feeling sorry for myself that I have to deal with this. Why couldn’t I have been born at a different time.

Then God brought to mind the story of Esther, in the Bible. She “just happened” to be in the right place at the right time to become the queen. Her entire race was about to be wiped out and her uncle Mordecai asked her to intervene for her people.

She was very afraid to approach the king because if she went to the inner court unbidden, and the king did not hold out the golden scepter to her she would be put to death. Mordecai encouraged her and helped her to find the strength to risk going before the king without him sending for her. When she was afraid, Mordecai told her, “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” What a thought.

After thinking about it for a while I came to the conclusion that God knows exactly what each of us who has ever lived was able to deal with and He specifically placed each person in the time in which they lived. God knows exactly what our strengths and weaknesses are, and He has placed each one of us in a time that we are suited to be able to handle. Like Esther, we are created for a time like this. God has never made a mistake and placed anyone in the wrong time period.

When Esther went before the king she saved all of her people. You might feel like you don’t hold the same power she held. After all, you aren’t married to the king. The truth is our place is more powerful than that. We are the sons and daughters of The King of Kings. Like in the days of Abraham, we can petition for God’s grace for our country and our world for the sake of the Christians who are here. There are many times He will show mercy for our sakes. We just have to seek His face and ask. He will always hold out His golden scepter to us. He has promised us that. He might not always give us what we are asking for because we don’t always ask for the right thing, but He will never turn us away.

So remember, even when we feel like we can’t handle things anymore, the truth is we can because we truly were born for a time like this.

Think about it.