In the above passage, Mordecai is strongly urging the queen, whom he raised, to do the right thing and seek deliverance from destruction. There is a beautiful tension that exists in this passage, namely the sovereignty of God and our responsibility. Mordecai is not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but he knows that God will deliver the Jews one way or another. Why does Mordecai have this confidence? Because he knows the promises that were made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has faith and trust in the fact that God will deliver on what God says he will deliver on; however, Mordecai knows that this will be costly to God's people.
He also states here, that if Esther keeps silent she will not get to participate in God's plan for redeeming his people, and it may cost her life. Here is the principle that arises from this text: God will get his plan accomplished, but you could miss out on the blessing of being involved with where God is working. Let me illustrate, recently I was out working on picking some tomatoes from a few plants I had put out. My kids wanted to help, and I was overjoyed to let them. I told them to pick only the red ones. While my youngest loved picking the green ones that were about golf ball sized, the red ones made it into the house. Those red tomatoes would have made it in the house without the kids helping, but they would have missed the instruction of twisting and pulling the tomato. And more importantly, we would have both missed out on the joy of the fellowship of doing this together.
In addition to this, he says perhaps you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this. We often think about the kingdom of God, but that is not where they live. They live in a pagan culture that does not worship the one true living God. Esther is unlike her Daniel counterpart in the Old Testament. Daniel had a level of moral clarity about him. We knew why he didn't eat the king's food or bow to the idols. They both worked in a pagan king's court, but Esther lacks the same clarity. She has made a series of sinful decisions which include: concealing her faith and sleeping with the king before they are married to entice him. She has to choose between the kingdom she lives in and God's kingdom, which is the decision we all face. While she has grown comfortable eating the king's food, Esther becomes the heroine through her resolve to live for God's kingdom at a great crossroad in her life. I wish I could be a Daniel, but the truth is most of us identify more with Esther than Daniel. Esther gives us hope that we can still be greatly used of God, especially if we have made sinful, bad decisions in the past. She shows us that even if we have a "past", God can use us as part of His plan to redeem others! Be encouraged beloved! The LORD has placed a world full of sinners to accomplish His will.
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