Esther 4:14 “For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
In addition to Luke 2:49, the Lord placed Esther 4:14 on my heart during my time of assessment and reflection at the end of 2012. It guided me throughout 2013. It also became the theme verse for the PLUS ministry though I didn’t know exactly how the Lord would use it in my life at the time I made it a personal theme verse for the year. Yet, this verse did immediately impact my priorities.
Up to that point, I had never made my COUNTRY an explicit priority in my life. I structure my daily prayer life around my priorities (with FAITH being the highest), and would lump prayers for America into my CAREER category. I reasoned up to that point that because my career focused on serving my country through the military, that CAREER and COUNTRY were one and the same. The Lord impressed upon me that this was not the case and that COUNTRY deserved a separate and preeminent priority over CAREER. After all, without separate priorities what would take precedence if career progression and country advancement came into conflict?
Esther’s career as the queen did come into conflict with the betterment of her nation and her people. Indeed, as described in Esther 4:14 the option to risk her career for the advancement of her people may have been the reason the Lord brought her to that position, place, and time. She had to choose which priority took precedence, and she chose wisely.
I have yet needed to make such a stark choice between priorities as did Esther. Maybe you have; maybe you haven’t. Yet, it is important to know where our priorities would guide us if faced with such a situation.
PLEASE PRAY THAT WE WOULD PRIORITIZE OUR NATION ABOVE OUR POSITION, COME WHAT MAY. In an America where institutions are diverging from our principles, such a choice may be closer than we imagine. As I wrote as a part of my 2013 Goals, we each should be willing to “see my country improve in its spiritual and practical condition, even if at my expense.”