Best-selling American author Max Lucado has written a very challenging book based on the story of Esther.

For such a time as this

It’s easy to read and full of helpful, pithy statements designed to equip us for the battles ahead, or for those in which we are already engaged.

It’s also bang up to date, with the hardships of Covid in mind, urging Christians to take their eyes off whatever storm they might be facing and onto a God more than capable of calming them.

‘Made for this Moment’ is of course another way of saying that God has called us “for such a time as this” – Mordecai’s challenge to his royal niece that proved a turning point in the fortunes of the Jews of ancient Persia.

Overcomers through Christ

When times get tough and everything seems stacked against us, that’s when we can really prove how great is our God – and the author backs this up with a library of inspirational anecdotes.

When times get tough and everything seems stacked against us, that’s when we can really prove how great is our God.

Not once does he buy into conspiracy claims surrounding the pandemic, vaccines and government restrictions on movement. His focus is entirely on rediscovering the potential for overcoming all difficulties through our faith in Jesus.

What I found most helpful was that, in introducing Esther (Hebrew name Hadassah) and her guardian, Lucado makes a big point about how they did not start out as model believers. Through compromise, they had become moulded into worldly ways – not even daring to identify as Jews until their people were threatened with extinction. Then, as they began trusting God for further direction, their faith and courage grew until the tables were turned on their enemies.

Making a stand

This is an apt lesson for Christians in the West who have taken on so many of the woke attributes of our culture as they choose the path of least resistance in the face of growing intolerance and opposition. But we are called to make a stand, even in the midst of great danger. Esther was prepared to die for her people, and her faith, declaring: “If I perish, I perish.”

If we can’t own up to being disciples when we are loosely tolerated, we will soon be snuffed out when things get hot.

We are indeed ‘made for this moment’ in order to boldly declare to a godless generation that our God reigns. Identity may have assumed a new, if rather skewed, focus of late, but our identity as believers should be sacrosanct. Jesus urges us not to hide our lights under a bushel.

Severe persecution may well lie hidden just over the next horizon. If we can’t own up to being disciples when we are loosely tolerated, we will soon be snuffed out when things get hot. Now is the time to find new strength in Jesus. And thank you, Max, for reminding us!

'You Were Made for This Moment' is published by Thomas Nelson, and is available from Eden Christian Books for £10.09, inc p&p.