Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.
- Esther 3:13

As meteoric as Esther’s rise has been, this chapter stands in contrast. Things get ugly quickly.

In response to Mordecai’s refusal to bow and pay Haman honor, Haman convinces the weak King Xerxes to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews. This disproportionate response springs out of the long backstory between the Jews and the Amalekites and is fueled by both Haman’s pride and Xerxes’ weakness. And it would be a disaster.

If this slaughter happened, it would have crippling economic, social, political, military and spiritual consequences for the Persian empire. In Esther 3:15, we read that the Persians in the capital city were utterly bewildered by this foolishness. But to the Jews, this was a nearly-hopeless crisis.

This crisis precipitates Esther’s “such a time as this” moment. And Esther doesn’t even appear in this chapter. In fact, when we next see her, she doesn’t even seem to know that it’s happening.

When we have crisis-moments in our lives, they can feel like obstacles and detours, barriers keeping us from living the lives God has called us to live. Crisis produces strong responses in us. We don’t want to miss our “such a time as this” moments, but what if the crisis you’re experiencing IS your “such a time as this” moment? What if God has perfectly positioned you right in the midst of this very crisis for a particular purpose?

Take some time today to do a personal retrospective. What do you tend to do in moments of crisis? What did you do well? What do you wish you had done differently? How can you be better prepared to lean into crisis moments with a deeper awareness of God’s work to place you in them for his particular purposes?