Life might well be very different for each of us if we had absolute certainty of what was going to take place just ahead of where we are now. I submit that there would be some decisions which would simply not be made because of the consequences. But we rarely know outcomes of what we decide before entering into the decisions made.

That was certainly true for Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai. The Jews were under a sentence of certain death, and Esther could possibly save her people if she went before her husband the king, who did not know she was a Jew. We read of it in Esther 4.13-14: He sent back this answer: ‘Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape.’

Esther had just been made queen and was enjoying that lifestyle. If she obeyed uncle Mordecai and told the king she might well lose it all. Mordecai speaks: ‘For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish.’ None knew the outcome of that decision. Obedience could be very costly; disobedience pricey as well

But the real issue was a commitment to be obedient. For Esther the word of her uncle drove that point home: ‘And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?’ Perhaps she had been made queen by God for this very purpose. She did it! The Jews were saved! The bad guys were hanged! And Esther is remembered before God forever as an obedient servant. We will surely know God’s plan for our lives as well, if we will obey him!