There are some biblical phrases of which we just can't get enough. Forgetting the context entirely, Christians love to reappropriate lines of Scripture as if they were simply idioms to be quoted as popular wisdom or pinned to a fridge door. Jeremiah's promise that God will prosper and not harm his followers is perhaps the most famous example, but there are plenty of others; Jesus' promise of a 'full measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over' being poured into your lap (Luke 6:38) is another classic.
One of the absolute favourites, particularly in more charismatic and pentecostal circles, is a fragment of a verse from Esther 4 :14: 'for such a time as this'. It's movie-trailer stuff, an intoxicating phrase that suggests action, purpose and immediacy. No wonder it's been the title or subtitle for a thousand conferences and events, been inserted into countless prophecies, and is almost certainly emblazoned on a fair few church clocks.
We Christians love to use that phrase to give a bit of time-sensitivity to our plans and activities. Tonight we're holding a youth event... 'for such a time as this'. The women of the church are meeting for pastries and prayer, 'for such a time as this'. Those six words find their way into funding applications, job adverts, and perhaps most regularly, prophetic words.
It's an offbeat phrase, which is probably why it's so popular, but what we're really saying through it is that the time in which we're living is somehow more important and vital in God's eternal timeline than almost any other. That in itself might be a bit self-indulgent, but the more dangerous application is that if we're not careful, we start to call God to serve our own timescales, not his own. It's as if we think by using it, we can somehow compel him to act right now, marching to our drum, rather than in his own timing. It's like we're saying: come on God, this is your moment...
It's perhaps no surprise that when we look at the original context in the Old Testament, we find that there's a bit more going on than that six-word fragment might suggest. Queen Esther is meeting secretly with her adopted father Mordecai, who tells her she's Israel's big hope against the murderous plans of the King's adviser. The evil Haman wants to wipe out the Jews and has tricked King Xerxes into signing a genocide warrant. Mordecai suggests that as Queen, Esther has been specially positioned to stop the plot by talking to her husband. Mordecai's exact words: 'But who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?'
The first interesting thing to note is that Mordecai is hardly definitive. He doesn't impose a certain belief that God has ordained this situation, and that he will certainly save the people through Esther. He simply finds it amazing that this has happened, and wonders aloud if indeed this is the work of God. This is an important distinction, because it means that if Esther fails, God isn't thwarted or disproved. 'For such a time as this' isn't a statement, but a question.
The other interesting point is found at the start of the very same verse, when Mordecai reminds Esther that she's not the saviour of her people – God is. In fact he actually says that if she stays silent, and doesn't step up at her probably-God-ordained moment, 'relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place'. Mordecai doesn't tell Esther that the whole universe is about to pivot upon her actions in this moment; instead he's pointing out that she's been given an opportunity to join in with what God appears to be doing in that place and time. If she doesn't do it, God is still God, and will still come to the rescue of his people.
What I think our love of this phrase really comes down to is our own impatience. Mis-appropriating and over-using it belies our need to be involved in exciting moves of God's power right here, right now. We don't like sitting and waiting for him to move; we don't enjoy running by his timing. Instinctively in a fast-moving, experience-it-now culture, we want every time to be 'such a time as this'.
And of course, this time might be. Sometimes God does use us in specific ways, at crucially-important moments. Much more often though, he simply invites us to be part of the long and unglamorous journey of life and faith. It's OK to wonder, like Mordecai, if God might have arranged the present because he's inviting us to be used in some special way today, but this shouldn't distract us from the everyday, and beautifully ordinary pursuit of following him, in every time.
Martin Saunders is a contributing editor for Christian Today and the Deputy CEO of Youthscape. Follow him on Twitter @martinsaunders.
