You Are Commissioned To Be An Answer

John Clardy

Esther 4:13-14

13        Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews.

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?

I recently heard of a prank some youngsters pulled at a department store.  Supposedly, they broke in while the store was closed and switched the price tags on a lot of the merchandise.  When the store opened for business, things that were normally low in price were being sold for many times what they were worth while things that were quite expensive were being sold for pennies on the dollar.  The most amazing part of the story is the fact that the store was open for business for quite some time before someone noticed it and corrected the situation.

That is exactly the picture of the world today.  Things that have been considered unacceptable and immoral are now embraced.  Things that have been held at a high value, such as the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of life, etc., are being eroded and aggressively attacked.  Our world knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing. The reason is not because they don’t know the question, but the reason is they don’t know the answer.

A survey was taken of people who had witnessed someone drown.  They asked those people the same question.  “Why didn’t you rescue them?”  Many answered, “We just did not realize they were drowning.  There was a lot of splashing in the water and we thought they were just splashing.  We didn’t realize they really were in a desperate condition.”

Crimes are witnessed everyday that could have been prevented by those observing others being victimized.  When asked why they didn’t help, most say they just didn’t want to get involved.  I wonder when we stand before the Lord and He asks why we didn’t become an answer to someone’s need of salvation, how will that excuse hold up?  How will it sound to say, “I just didn’t want to get involved?”

When it is in our power to be a part of the answer and we do not, we are guilty of violating scripture!

Proverbs 3:27    Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it!

ESTHER – Don’t think you can hide in the palace and go unnoticed.  You were positioned were you are for such a time as this.  God put you where you are to be an answer and to bring deliverance. If you don’t, deliverance will arise from another – but you will be destroyed.

God has placed us where we are for such a time as this.  Not David or Moses or Elijah, but you and I! It is our opportunity and responsibility to be ready at all times with the answer.

I Peter 3:15       But sanctify the lord god in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

Notice I said an answer, not an argument! We need to ask God to help us live our lives in such a way that we convince people of our hope by our actions and not our arguments.  We need to do it by getting in the way of someone who is on the way down, by walking in on someone when everyone else is walking out.   In 2009, let’s be the answer that God has commissioned us to be!