READ: ESTHER 4
If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. What’s more, who can say but that you have been elevated to the palace for just a time as this? (V. 14)
A non-negotiable trait of all police officers is their willingness to take direct action, even it means losing their lives. Those who are timid and indecisive fall short of the highest levels of personal conduct set for police service. In short, there is no room for passive behavior for those who have sworn to protect their fellow citizens!
One December morning at 2AM, two “rookie officers” came upon a stalled vehicle in the middle of an intersection less than 200 feet from a business where a silent intrusion alarm had been activated. The vehicle was occupied by three very nervous men in dark clothing. Even though the “newbies” heard the call for the alarm and knew some of us were responding to the store a mere “stone’s throw away,” they stood passively with the driver looking under the hood of the stalled car trying to figure out how to get it restarted. Seeing what was transpiring, two of us stopped rather than going directly to the store. Simultaneous to our arrival, the two passengers were hurrying to exit the vehicle. For good reason, the open doors revealed a car loaded with stolen merchandise from the store. Thank the Lord the young men were too scared to think, and all were taken into custody without incident or harm to the officers. The passive behavior of the new officers could have cost them their lives—a lesson they never forgot!
Talk about courageous and non-passive behavior, Mordecai, a highly respected Jewish leader in Persia, refused to bow down to anyone in authority except God. This created an uproar in the Persian Court. The King’s Prime Minister became so enraged that he had the King sign an extermination order for all the Jews living in the Persian Empire. Mordecai knowing that direct action was immediately needed, made contact with his adopted daughter Esther. Esther, who had hidden her Jewish heritage, at her father’s direction, had become Queen of Persia. Rejecting passivity, Esther risked her own life by uninvitingly approaching the King, interceded on behalf of the Jewish people. Her intercession exposed the plot of the Prime Minister Haman, who out of jealously was trying to have Mordecai disgraced and killed. Eshter and Mordecai saved thousands of lives by their direct, uncompromising actions!
PAUSE FOR REFLECTION AND PRAYER
Mordecai and Esther honored God by taking courageous action in a time of crisis. At home, work, school or socially, how often has God called you to reject passivity and “do the right thing for the right reason?”
Dear God, help us we pray stand strong and faithful to you in times of adversity and crisis knowing you will never leave our side.