Talking about purpose is inspirational and exciting, but working out God’s purpose in a believer’s life requires step-by-step obedience and patience.
For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14
Esther was a Jewish girl who through circumstances out of her control found herself as the Queen of Persia. Being a queen was not something that she sought after or planned to have. However, God put her there.
When the Jewish people came under the threat of annihilation by Haman, Esther did not see herself as someone who had the power to influence the king. However, Mordecai’s statement alerted her to the reality of the need before her. Neither she nor Mordecai knew or understood God’s purpose in the midst of a dangerous and tricky situation. This is clear from Mordecai’s statement saying to Esther, “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” He didn’t know Esther’s purpose, but he surmised that this could be the reason God had placed Esther in that position.
From our vantage point, Esther’s purpose is clear because we know the whole story, but to them it was a step-by-step walk of faith and trust. They prayed, fasted, and sought the face of the Lord, and the Lord showed Esther what she needed to do and how to approach this difficult and dangerous issue.
The world’s system tells us that we need to be strategic about our goals and objectives and not leave anything to chance or happenstance. As God’s people we know that the Lord is in control and He is sovereign over the affairs of people’s lives. This doesn’t mean that we stop planning for some of the goals we desire to achieve, but we do need to separate our goals from God’s purpose.
For example, if we know we have been called to ministry or preaching the word of God, we can do our part to prepare ourselves. We should be diligent in studying the word of God and taking necessary courses to show ourselves approved and ready, but unless God opens the doors of ministry, we don’t need to force ourselves into preaching. The Lord is looking for our availability not our striving. He is the one who opens doors for us and breathes on our messages to become useful for the Kingdom and for the benefit of the hearers.
These days, there are too many people pushing themselves into ministry because they feel they have a call on their lives, and they think they are ready. Some don’t mind causing division in the body of Christ for the sake of seeking their purpose. We don’t see this in the Bible and in the lives of those that God used to further His purpose.
Purpose requires faith, walking with God, and getting out of our comfort zone. Our purpose is not always as clear as we like it to be. Even those who think they know God’s purpose for their lives, they don’t exactly know how they are going to fulfill that purpose unless they are obedient to the steps along the way.
What is your expectation of purpose? Do you remember who set those expectations for you? Can you find scriptures that show a person’s purpose to be clear and simple?