Let God be the Solution

The story of Esther is simply that of an ordinary girl used by God in an extraordinary way. This orphan girl was thrust into a beauty pageant and crowned Queen of a vast empire...talk about a Cinderella story, huh?! This girl had a secret--a secret that could kill her. A turn of events, however, forced her to choose whether she would lay her own life on the line for the lives of her people. She was the only one who could save them. Could she have been crowned Queen perhaps for such a time as this?

Esther had a CHOICE to make. She could either save herself or save her people. We too have choices every day...choices whether to reach out in love to those who hurt us or not, study for our finals or not, spend time in God's Word or not, etc. Esther faced a giant CHALLENGE. She wasn't necessarily in what I would call a "happy-go-lucky" scenario. I mean what were her options again? Oh yeah, personal death or the death of her people. Hmmm...sounds like an easy decision, huh? Umm, no. We too face challenges every day. We live in this thing called life. James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." Esther was at a point of CRISIS. She hit rock-bottom. In Esther 4, she asks Mordecai to join her in prayer and fasting for three days before she would make her decision. In our moments of deepest need, God is with us & is our very source of strength (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Esther chose to answer God's CALL on her life. God has placed a call on each and every one of our lives. He has placed you at your school and in your workplace for a specific purpose. He has placed me at the College of Central Florida for a specific reason-- to bring glory to His Name! How will you answer the call that God has placed on your life?

What is God's call on our lives? Romans 12:1-2 says, "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." God is calling us to stand out--to be different than everyone around us. People are seeking something genuine, something real.

The following video shows the story of a girl searching for something to satisfy her. In truth, we are all searching for something. I challenge us to search for Christ today. Turn and search for Him--just as the girl does in the video. When we choose to make God the solution, we can choose to rise above the crisis in our lives and answer His call. Let Him take you, bless you, break you, and give you out for His glory. Let that be our prayer.