For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this (Esther 4:14).
So many stories in Scripture tell of people who, in times of crisis, meet difficult moments with courage. These are often the most unexpected people—think of young David facing Goliath or awkward, stammering Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. How about Jeremiah, selected by God even before his birth to be a prophet to a world in turmoil?
A classic example is the story of Queen Esther. The queen, who had concealed her Jewish identity from her husband, hears of Haman’s wicked plot to destroy all the Jews in the kingdom. Esther is afraid but is told by her adviser, Mordecai, that perhaps she was made for “such a time as this.” In the end, Esther does indeed rise to the occasion. She speaks out and saves her people. It’s a powerful story of personal destiny and responsibility that has always stayed with me.
Now, in 2025, “such a time as this” includes a pantheon of other dreadful situations, globally and at home. Our climate is raging out of control, and many experts warn that we are approaching the point of no return if we want to change course. Then there’s the poisonous political discourse and division that tears families and our country apart. Add in seemingly endless war, starvation, homelessness and the cruelty that seems to simmer just beneath the surface of too many personal and social media interactions, and the list goes on. Stop the 21st century, I want to get off!
No wonder there is rose-colored nostalgia for the “good old days” of the sitcom-perfect 1950s, or the fun-filled Roaring ’20s, or even the 1970s, when many of the biggest tragedies were the fashions (whose idea was the leisure suit?). Those were, we hazily recall, simpler, happier times. The trouble is that our memories are flawed. Those “good old days” also featured great economic hardships; loss of many children to illnesses; and precious few rights for women, our brothers and sisters of color, and LGBTQ+ communities. Face it, as long as there have been human beings, there haven’t really been many good old days.
What if, like Esther, we recognize that we were born for this time and no other and meet the moment with bravery and resolve?
Even if there had been a true Golden Age, time travel is not currently an option. Like it or not, this is my time—and yours too. There’s been plenty of finger-pointing over what started us on this downward slide, but it almost doesn’t matter. Here we are, all of us. And the future, while unpredictable in some respects, doesn’t look very promising right now. I confess to sometimes feeling glad that I’m in my late 60s and most likely won’t live to experience the worst-case scenarios.
However, my beloved grandsons will. The youngest, tiny Dimitri Gabriel, is only 4 months old. This mess we’ve created, this 2025, is his time as well.
What if, like Esther, we recognize that we were born for this time and no other and meet the moment with bravery and resolve? We may succeed or fail, but don’t we owe it to the next generations, to all the little Dimitris, to try? It’s possible that one or more of us has the key to saving our planet and humanity—and if we seem like unlikely heroes, who’s to say that disqualifies us? In fact, biblically speaking, we may be uniquely qualified to transform these troubled times.
Our sojourns on earth may be brief or long, but all of them do come to an end eventually. Meantime, while we’re here, we are each challenged to meet the moments—the tough, sad and scary ones—that transpire while we’re alive.
Meeting the moment may be my challenge, but it is not a lonely one. Thank God.
The good news is, we don’t meet these moments alone. God who loves us, who never abandons us, stands with us—just as God stood with Esther and David and Moses and Jeremiah. God offers us strength and resolve. God offers us wisdom and compassion. All are gifts we can accept or reject—that part is up to us.
But just knowing I can tap into that great wellspring of courage is such a comfort. Bravery is not something I need to summon up by myself. It is mine for the taking, from my Lord.
And so, as I watch and read the news, as I register the atrocities piling up, I remind myself that I can make a positive difference. I may not be royalty like Esther, but I’m a mom and a nana. A spouse. A friend. A co-worker. I have my sphere of influence, and I also have my Divine Companion. As Paul asks, if God is for me (that’s true!) who or what can be against me?
Tomorrow morning, when I wake up, before the cares and trials of life settle on me once again, I’ll take a second to enjoy the sunrise. That beautiful glow bathing the neighborhood in light is a symbol of the Light that shows up for each of us, every single day and forever. Meeting the moment may be my challenge, but it is not a lonely one. Thank God.
