Esther 4:14 (ESV)
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 house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the
kingdom for such a time as this?
This is a story relayed by Corrie Ten Boom, "It was
Christmas, 1944. My sister, Betsie, had died. I was in a hospital barracks in
Ravensbruck, a Nazi prison camp. Dark it was in my heart, and darkness was
around me. There were Christmas trees in the street between the barracks. Dead
bodies of prisoners had been thrown under the Christmas trees. I tried to talk
to the people around me about Christmas, but they mocked and sneered. At last,
I kept quiet.
In the middle of the night, I suddenly heard a child crying
and calling, "Mommy! Come to Oelie. Oelie feels so alone." I went to
her and saw a child not so young, but feebleminded. "Oelie, Mommy cannot
come, but do you know who is willing to come to you? Jesus will come."
Oelie was lying on a bed next to the window, not far from lack of food, she had
a sweet face and beautiful eyes. A bandage of toilet paper covered an incision
from surgery on her back. That night I told this poor child about Jesus. How He
came into the world as a little baby how He came to save us from our sins.
"The Lord Jesus loves Oelie and has borne her punishment on the cross....
Jesus is ... [in heaven] right now. He is getting a little house ready for
Oelie." Later I asked her what she remembered of what I had told her. "What
is the little house like?" I asked. "It is very beautiful. There are
no wicked people as in Ravensbruck only good people and angels. And Oelie will
see Jesus there." The child added, "I will ask Jesus to make me brave
when I have a pain. I will think of the pain that Jesus suffered to show Oelie
the way to heaven." Oelie folded her hands; together we gave thanks. Then
I knew why I had to spend this Christmas in Ravensbruck."
Often we find ourselves in difficult situations or places
and we can't for the life of us understand for what possible reason we're here
-- but be encouraged! We may not understand but God does! And who knows whether
you have come into the kingdom for such a time as this?
Dear Lord, we pray that when we don’t understand the
situation help us to realize You have a reason for it and will use it for good.
In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
