I'm In the Palace

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the story of Esther. It's a story similar to that of a Disney princess movie. A King of great wealth who rules over a vast empire is in search of the most beautiful girl in all the land. A Jewish, orphan girl named Esther is one of the many young women brought to his palace to see if she will be chosen as queen. The King ends up choosing Esther to be the royal queen, a crown is placed on her head and she has great favor with all who reside in the palace.

Then the crisis happens: the evil villain Haman, the most powerful official of the King, convinces the King to issue a decree that Jews all across the land are to be destroyed. Esther's very own people are to be killed. Mordecai, Esther's relative who had adopted her when her parents had died (if this were a Disney movie he would have been her fairy godfather), instructs her to go to the King and beg for the lives of her people. Esther replies in fear that she could be killed for going to the King without being summoned for.

I have read and heard Mordecai's reply many times in my life but this time, it was a different phrase that really struck me and pierced to my soul: 

"Don't think for a moment that because you're in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?"-Esther 4:13-14

Esther was in the palace. She was living the dream. Chosen out of hundreds of other beautiful girls, Esther was Queen of a huge, wealthy empire and living a wonderfully comfortable life safe inside her palace while outside her palace walls, her people were suffering and broken, in need of rescue from imminent danger. I understood then. That I am Esther. I live in the palace. Not only have I never lacked any of the material things such as food, clothes or a nice home, I have even been blessed with a loving family, an incredible church family, a top education and so much more. I am more than comfortable and protected. I am privileged. I have the ultimate, comfortable Christian life. I know the Truth and I know my Savior. I have been rescued from hell and am destined for a glorious eternity in heaven. I am in the palace. 

Who is suffering outside of my walls? From my perspective, a girl about to leave for Thailand in a couple days to serve with a non-profit (Life Impact International) who rescue children from the evils of human trafficking and modern day slavery, I know who is suffering and who God has long put a burden on my heart to help save. I think of the babies who are sold on the border of Thailand for only $18 to be mercilessly abused and will end up dead if not rescued soon. I think of the little boys and girls I worked with in an orphanage in Mexico this past summer and of their painful stories of horror and abuse many times at the hands of their own parents. I am haunted by their stories of unthinkable pain and I hear their cries from all around the world. Not a day or night goes by when I don't think of them, all the beautiful children I have come to know and love, and the ones I have yet to meet...all abandoned, lost, living in hell and in desperate need of the healing love of Jesus. Now that I know, I can't go back into my palace walls.

I thought of Jesus' words as he spoke of the final judgment and of who would and would not inherit the kingdom: "I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me." I can't refuse any longer. Just like Esther, I must step out of my comfort zone and heed the call. I can no longer keep quiet. Not only I, but the church is here for such a time as this to work together to help the least of these. Today, 20-30 million people are suffering from modern day slavery. 26% of slaves are children under 18.  All around the world and even here in our own American cities, the cries and desperation of the voiceless and enslaved are all around us. Let us no longer keep quiet. Let us all do our part. I know I will. 

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.-Isaiah 1:17

To learn more about Life Impact International, go here:
http://www.lifeimpactintl.org/#/home/what-we-do