One of my favorite artists is a contemporary/Gospel singer named Mandisa. She sings a song titled, “Born for this.” It is a song based off of the legacy of Queen Esther in the Bible. To summarize her life, Esther was born to be queen to save her people. Back in those days, there was basically a casting call of women of a certain age and purity (i.e. virginal) to be queen. The original queen Vashti was a little too sassy, refused the king’s orders to appear at his royal banquet and was dethroned (no, they did not say sassy in the Bible, but they should have!).
With this new competition for queen, there were maidservants and advisors that would guide the participants to dress a certain way, wear a certain perfume, and really doll themselves up to get the king’s attention. Sounds super familiar… the Bachelor anyone?? Esther… a woman after my own heart, literally said “nah, I’m good.” Boom, Esther grabs the king’s attention and his favor, becomes queen and saves her people in the process. She literally embodies the phrase “born for this.”
Believe it or not, we were all born for a specific purpose. There is quite literally no one else in this world that can accomplish your God-given purpose. The problem… sometimes we allow our insecurities or other people’s belief of what they think our purpose should be to get in our way. When you read the book of Esther, you will see she doubted herself and her ability to save her people. She had her own personal coach her older cousin Mordecai who supported her journey and guided her with one of my favorite verses,
If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief of the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for such a time as this? Esther 4:14
At this very moment, you are missing the opportunity to fulfill God’s purpose in your life, and gain a much greater blessing. I am speaking to myself in this message… so how do you get back on track? How do you get yourself back to that place of discernment and confidence in where God is leading you? It doesn’t just happen, and it isn’t just a “one and done” thing. You have to seek God’s face and His voice at every moment. I find that when I allow myself to get bogged down by the mundane tasks of the day, or by the frustrations of work, or relationships, or just random bouts of anxiety, I am stuck in my head space, and more than likely I haven’t even talked to God in that day and sometimes even that week.
When is the last time you gave yourself a moment of silence and just asked the question, “God, what do you need from me today?” I struggle constantly with this question not because I don’t want to live out His purpose for me, but because I don’t allow the quiet moment to happen where I can hear Him speaking to me. I ask the question, then I tell God “oh yea, well my supervisor told me that the next step in my career is…” or “well, I’ve been working really hard at this, so I’m going to keep beating my head against the wall and keep getting more anxious because then I know I will find success at the end.” Sounds crazy right… but… it’s what I do, and I can only guess it’s what you do too.
So stop! In those moments of panic, anxiety, frustration, fear, or even just complacency, reach out to God with the simple question “God, what do you need from me.” Don’t just move on when you ask… wait… listen… and act on His response and guidance. Live out your purpose. You were born for this!
