“Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” Esther 4:13-14
The Lord used these verses to speak to me today. When I read them I felt the truth of these words washing over me, convicting me, and inspiring me to live my life just a little bit differently. I was so moved that I wrote it down in my journal, which I am sharing with you now.
"Kendall, don’t think for a moment that just because God has me where I am that I can hide out where I am at. I am not a queen like Esther, but like her God has me where I am for a reason. And just because God has allowed me to be a pastor does not mean that I can fill my schedule with different pastor things and not also be doing the work of the ministry. I don’t get to just help other people walk with God. I have to be walking with God too. I have to serve. I have to pray. I have to engage the people around me with the Gospel and get involved in my city. It is not enough for me to talk about all of these things and encourage others towards them. I have to make time to do them myself. I cannot be silent!!!"
And just because I love Jesus, does not mean that the shape and direction of society is not going to affect me. Just like Esther, my family and I are going to get caught up in whatever happens in this city. Our future (to a large degree) will be shaped by what happens here. We really cannot hide. We (Christians in America) have been hiding out for decades, and that strategy is not working. Once we decided to leave our faith at home and keep quiet while out in the world, the world has moved on without us. They do not see God on us, and as a result they are no longer seeing God at all. We cannot be silent!!!
If I were to keep quiet on a day like this, at a time like this, then God will still bring deliverance. God is still God even if I ended up being silent. But the coolest thing that I could ever imagine is that God still wants to use me! God has raised me up at this time and in this place and He has given me something to say. But it is not just me! God has raised each and every Christian up at this time and He wants to use us in the spaces we are living. If we keep quiet, God is still going to move. God is still going to work. God will still be God! But, God wants to move through us!
Who knows? Perhaps God has made us into the people we are in order to use us where we are? Isn’t God big enough to do that? But, the question I must always wrestle with is "will I live my life like that?" Will I live everyday like I am ready to be used by God and refusing to be silent?
