Daily Devotional

I read the passage above as the “verse of the day” on my Bible app after returning from standing and praying in front of Planned Parenthood for the lives of the unborn. The passage immediately jumped out at me, and not being that familiar with the story in Esther I quickly read the entire book, as it is only ten chapters long. To give a quick summary, the verse comes in the middle of a story about a man and his adopted daughter, Esther, who finds favor with the king and is given the honor of being named queen. In the midst of this a plot is discovered to destroy the entire Jewish population from all the king’s lands. Mordecai, Esther’s adopted father, asks her to plead for their people’s lives before the king, risking her own life in the process.

Now ultimately the king finds favor with Esther and grants her the request, and not only are Jews saved, but the king grants them to take revenge on those who plotted and to plunder them as well.

Now you are probably asking at this point, what on earth does this have to do with praying in front of Planned Parenthood? I’m glad you asked. Esther (at least in her mind) was in a privileged position and seemingly well out of danger with regard to the plot, as she had not yet revealed her heritage to anyone. But was also the only one who could potentially have the king’s ear to turn him from agreeing to such a horrendous decree. The act of asking, without first being invited to the king’s court, even though she was queen, risked her being put to death. So the easy path for her was to do nothing, the path of least resistance. Sure, people would die, but not her (theoretically), and after all she wasn’t the one killing people, or making the decree. So how was this her problem?

One of the mysteries of the Christian faith is how God uses our prayers for his purpose. God is almighty, omnipotent, and therefore doesn’t need us to work His will, but He invites us to be part of the process. He calls us to pray, to act, in order to further His will here on earth. We are called to action when we see injustice and wrong, especially when it involves those who cannot help themselves. Sure maybe my praying won’t have much of an impact on any given day, but after years of the faithful prayers of God’s people, the Supreme Court effectively overturned Row v. Wade! Praise God!

However as a result some of the States, especially California, have just ramped up their efforts, seemingly desiring to kill as many babies as possible. This is not a time to rest on our victory, we need to be praying like never before. We see the injustice, so we are called to pray. I was struck by the part of this passage that said, “if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.” God will still accomplish His will, but we have to answer for our inaction in the face of obvious sin and injustice. For who can say if we have been placed here for such a time as this?

Let us pray that the God of all mercy will save the innocent and unborn, that He will turn the hearts of those in power, and shut up the facilities that perform abortions so that the killing will cease. We pray that Your will be done in our City, or State, our Nation, and our World, in the mighty and holy name of Jesus Christ! Amen!

New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.