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?” (Esther 4:14 ESV)
There is great energy created when a person comes to the realization that God's providence has delivered them to a moment where decades of preparation in isolation brings them to a pivotal moment where their character, skill set, courage, and endurance will deliver a significant victory for God's kingdom.
I have been there- there are three of four times in my life where I knew I had been placed at a time where, if I stood firm, God was going to use me. One of those times, a person actually told me- "There is no doubt God has brought you here for a time such as this."
Those moments are kind of Holy Spirit highs- scary, attention grabbing- and the power unlocked in those moments is unmistakable. Funny, I never feel 'worn out or burned out' during those times- I'm praying instead of sleeping... and never feel tired.
I'm so in the 'fight' so to speak that I don't eat- and don't feel hungry:
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” [32] But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” [33] So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” [34] Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. (John 4:31–34 ESV)
the reality is that yes, for - three or four powerful seasons in my life, I have been there. and one more interesting thing, I KNOW good things were accomplished for Christ- but the opinions of those types of assignments can be 'mixed'.
But in that 'time such as this' assignment - it doesn't matter- I don't feel tired, I don't feel hungry, I don't care what others think, and i feel God's pleasure. In those moments, I have never felt so alive and life feels so meaningful.
Now the sad thing is- if I were REALLY attuned to building God's kingdom- there should be MORE of these moments, but the sad reality is that I drift into a corner similar to Elijah running from Queen Jezebel.
The Mount Carmel victory high doesn't usually last and sin and worries of life push us in the shadows. I think God understands us- we are weak creatures and both fear and pride sideline us way too often.
These thoughts come back to me as I re-read this chapter in The Call.
Guinness writes that calling gives us a sense of timing. I have thought about that sentence quite a bit over the last few days because timing has always fascinated me. I say to people all the time (as someone said this to ME long ago):
“God is NEVER late, but He is seldom early.”
Sometimes it seems that God spends far more time preparing people than He does using them publicly.
As a boy, I loved visiting my dad at Birmingham Fire Station No. 2. One of the things that impressed me was how normal life seemed inside the station. The men laughed, cleaned equipment, checked the trucks, cooked meals, read, rested, and carried on ordinary conversations.
But everything was preparation.
No one knew when the alarm would sound. They simply lived ready. And they weren’t stressed out about it- they just went on with the day- chess, dominoes, ping pong- cleaning- organizing. Rehearsing.
That picture has stayed with me for years because I think it captures something important about calling. Most of life is lived between alarms. We prepare, learn, study, live, pray, and grow.
We become the kind of people God can use when the opportunity arrives. One of the mistakes I made earlier in life was thinking that preparation was somehow separate from calling. Now I think preparation is part of the calling.
Yet they may be the very things God uses "for such a time as this."
One of the habits I have tried to develop over the years is what I would simply call mental rehearsal. I think through difficult situations before they happen. What would I do if a student came to me in crisis? How would I respond if someone asked me about my faith? What if I had to confront a difficult situation? I do not do that because I expect disaster around every corner. I do it because opportunities rarely announce themselves in advance.
When they come, they usually require a response in the moment.
These last 18 months are so I have been re-hearsing the challenge of 'growing old'- not in a morbid way, but as a game plan to endure the inevitable to the glory of God. It has been practical AND theoretical. I'm lifting weights, walking, and studying.
It is my next 'For such a time as this' and I plan on winning- the secfret is not looking back as much as knowing the best is still yet to come!
Perhaps that is why the Christian life is so often described as watchfulness.
Not anxiety… just readiness.
As I think about this June Tune-Up, I find myself asking a different question than I did years ago. Instead of wondering what great opportunity God may have waiting for me, I find myself wondering what He is preparing me for today.
The answer may be something very public.
More likely, it will be something wonderfully ordinary.
And to be honest- I need to be more attuned to the needs around me as well.
There are other moments like this - challenges will meet me... maybe even today.
Either way, I hope that when the alarm finally sounds, I will be ready.
And we need not fear them... in those moments we get to experience God's power and grace.
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