The Price of Silence

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: The Price of Silence ------------------- Date: 3/6/2003
Keywords: “silence”
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Passage: Esther 4:14*

For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?"

Questions

Background — The book of Esther relates the story of the Jews’ deliverance from an evil plot devised against them by Haman, a court official of King Ahasuerus of the Persians. The events of Esther took place during the sixth century B.C. Esther’s book is unique among all the books in the Bible because of the absence of any reference to God, except for the oblique reference in 4:14 (above).

Queen Esther was given an opportunity to help her fellow Jews escape destruction —

1. What would have happened to the Jews if she had not acted?

 

2. What would have happened to her and to her family if she had not acted?

 

Practical help

Esther’s opportunity to be a help to her people was God’s gift to her. She had been placed in a high position in Persia and was given the chance to use that high position for good — or not.

She was assured that if she did not speak up for the Jews, two things would happen. One, the Jews would be delivered by someone else. This is the author’s way of saying, "God is going to take care of His people, Esther. If you don’t ‘stand in the gap’ He’ll raise up somebody else who will." Two, she and her household would be killed. Not speaking up would destroy her and all those around her. She could not be a neutral player in this deadly game.

Esther’s story (again! — see the last two eXXit studies) provides both encouragement and warning to all of us who struggle with porn.

Just as Esther’s passivity would not have protected her, so our passivity in grabbing porn by the throat and dealing it a death blow spells d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r, both for us and for those around us. Taking action to distance ourselves from porn protects us from harm and it protects those we care about most.

In addition, each Christian is given tailor-made opportunities to stand for Jesus, to make a difference for Him, to serve Him. Mordecai’s words to Esther suggest that these opportunities can be used and they can be lost. Take advantage of the chances you have been given to serve the Lord. He wants to use you to advance His Kingdom purposes. Neither you nor I want something like involvement with porn to stand in the way of our being totally available to Him for His use, do we? (If you are not a Christian, but want to find out how to become one, click here.)

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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."