FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS

                              ESTHER 4

4: 14 "AND WHO KNOWS BUT THAT YOU HAVE COME TO ROYAL POSITION FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS?"

     The stakes could not have been higher. The very existence of an entire people hung in the balance. If Haman, the ancient Hitler, had his way there would be genocide, and the Jews would cease to exist in Persia. Everything now seemed to vector in on the lovely Esther. She was the only hope, if there was any hope. What she did with the opportunity before her, how she seized the day, would affect generations to come. Her cousin, and surrogate father, Mordecai urged her to act: "Who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" (4:14).

     Socrates said the heart of wisdom is to "Know Yourself." The Bible says it is to "Know Your Time."  In the Greek language of the New Testament, "time" is spoken of in two ways: chronos and kairos. Chronos is time as a concrete measurement, like on a clock. Kairos is time as a season, a moment; it is about meaning, not measurement.  Kairos is what the Bible is interested in. Jesus was sometimes irritated when people didn't know their kairos (see Matthew 16: 2-3). Other times he was heartbroken, as when he wept over Jerusalem, "because you did not recognize the time (Kairos) of God's coming to you" (Luke 19:44).

     One of the ways the Bible speaks of prayer is in the language of watchfulness, and alertness (see Isaiah 62:6-7; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Peter 5:8). To pray is by definition to be alert to the moment, to know what time it is, because prayer is birthed in an awareness of God’s Kairos: "I tell you, now is the time (Kairos) of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).  For this very reason, Jesus was grieved and frustrated because his disciples would not "keep watch" with him in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:38-41). Prayer would keep the disciples from falling into temptation. But the disciples couldn’t stay awake because they didn’t know what time it was.

     Getting up in the morning to pray, or setting aside time in the evening to pray, is about much more than the clock, and your schedule. It is understanding that whenever you come to pray, you do so "for such a time as this." 

Who knows what your prayers may mean to the world? 

In Christ,

Janet Irene Thomas

Playwright/Screen Writer/Director

Published Author/Gospel Lyricist &Producer

FOUNDER/CEO

Bible Stories Theatre of

Fine & Performing Arts

www.biblestoriestheatre.org.