Even now, God is using us to deliver His people who are in crisis.

When Mordecai asked Esther through Hatach

to go to the king and plead for her people's deliverance,

Esther responded that she risked death

if she approached the king without being summoned,

and that thirty days had passed since the king had last called for her.

Upon hearing this reply, Mordecai sent back this message to Esther:

"Do not think that because you are in the king's palace

you alone of all the Jews will escape.

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 4:8-14)

As I meditate on this, from Esther's perspective,

approaching King Ahasuerus was a potentially life-threatening task,

and she did not assume she would be

the sole survivor among all the Jews in the palace.

I began to think that her becoming queen was

perhaps to be used as an instrument of God

to deliver (save) the Jews who were facing imminent destruction.

This reminded me of how God sent Joseph

ahead into Egypt to become a ruler,

ultimately saving (delivering) his father Jacob (Israel),

his brothers, and their families.

Even now, I believe that God is using us

to deliver (save) His people who are in crisis.