Esther 4:14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Sometimes it amazes me how things come together.  Our position in life, our finances, even our forgetfulness or laziness can all be used by God at the precise timing and for the exact purpose He has called us to. Queen Esther lived this out when she had been chosen as queen during a time of great struggle for her Jewish people. One of the king’s officials was trying to wipe out all of the Jewish population and Esther’s uncle urged her to make a plea to the king on their behalf.  In this time the king had to extend an invitation before anyone could enter into his court.  The uninvited could be punished by death unless the king extended his scepter to grant them immunity.

Esther was justifiably nervous to approach the king and face death, but her uncle reminded her that she didn’t just wind up in this high position.  It may very well be that God placed her there for the exact purpose of approaching the king to plea for the lives of the Jews.  It was no coincidence that she had been shown such great favor by the king.  Esther knew Mordecai was right and decided to make the move, knowing that she may die in the process, but confident that this is why she was there at this time in this place. The story ends well and Esther is not killed for entering the king’s court uninvited and her people are saved. What an amazing story and God orchestrated it all.

I’ve seen so many times in my own life that God has worked some little thing that seemed bad, or maybe even really good, into His plan for another purpose.  As an illustration, I’d like to share my recent experience.  This week I started a ministerial internship at a church that is not my own, but under a pastor who used to lead at my church a while back.  In discussing with him what my responsibilities will be, he spoke a lot about the need for me to counsel new believers about baptism.  Could it be a coincidence, I thought, that I just heard an entire sermon devoted to the subject of baptism last Sunday, a day that I was sick and could have stayed home but “felt” like I should go anyway?  Could it be that I was meant to show up to that service despite my sickness just to prepare me for this role?

Then, when I asked the pastor if they had extra clothes for people to change into to get baptized, he said they had “some” but not much.  I immediately thought that I should donate some clothes to the church for this purpose.  Once home, I began searching for some T-shirts and athletic shorts to donate. I wasn’t finding very many and then I remembered why.  I had already gone through my clothes and put much of my stuff to donate in a duffel bag.  For whatever reason I either kept forgetting to drop it off and the Salvation Army or I was just too lazy.  Months have now passed and that bag is still sitting in my garage.  I opened it up and found it almost full of clothes that are perfect for wearing in the baptismal pool.  I hadn’t taken them to donate because, unbeknown to me, they were needed for “such a time as this”.

It’s theses small things that are a testimony to just how much God is at work in our lives, using even the most seemingly insignificant details to bring about His purpose.  Don’t ever doubt that God is working in you and through you.  Sometimes even when He doesn’t let you know it, He’s doing something bigger than you could imagine in your life.