It's Not Your Fault
And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Esther 4:14 (ESV)
For years Barbara Williams-Skinner has been a prophetic voice for God in the fight against systemic racism in our country. She offers this wise insight: “It may not be your fault, but it is certainly your time.”
It’s not your fault that racism became entrenched in America. It’s not your fault that 250 years of slavery kept millions of people in chains. It’s not your fault that despite the Emancipation Proclamation, a century of Jim Crow laws kept their descendants degraded and marginalized. It’s not your fault that economic and educational disparity robs the vast majority of black children of any chance to break out of generational poverty.
Changing analogies, it’s not your fault that some people will be sleeping on the streets tonight. It’s not your fault that children are going to bed hungry. It’s not your fault that so many orphans have no home.
This brings us to the story of Queen Esther. If you’re not familiar with it, against all odds, this Jewish woman became queen of Persia while her people were in captivity.
But dire circumstances developed. A sinister plot was hatched to wipe out the Jews. That certainly wasn’t her fault. Indeed, to try to address that situation was to take a huge risk.
But in the opinion of her wise uncle, Mordecai, it was a risk well worth taking. His words to her have echoed down through the ages: “Who knows whether you have not come to the Kingdom for such a time as this?”
“It may not be your fault, but it is certainly your time.”
“It may not be your fault, but it is certainly your time.”
– Barbara Williams-Skinner
It Might Be Your Time
Could it be that just as it was with Esther, so it is with you?
Maybe you can’t do everything, but you can do something. You have skills. You have gifts. You have time. You have resources. Who knows whether you have not come to the Kingdom for such a time as this?
You have a chance to make a difference if only you will step up and take it, an opportunity to tilt the balance just a bit if you will weigh in.
You might be able to be a Big Brother or a Big Sister and provide guidance to one who lacks a guiding hand.
You might be able to tutor in a school and help a child who is rapidly falling behind.
You might be able to offer a job to someone who is chronically unemployed.
You might be able to help out and give hope to a single mom.
You might be able to offer aid to an elderly neighbor.
You might be able to add your voice to the chorus calling for change.
As the old adage put it, “It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” Anyone can lament what is. Very few will lean into what could be.
It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
It may not be your fault that things are the way they are, but it might well be your time to do something about how they are the way they are. After all, who knows whether you have not come to the Kingdom for such a time as this?
PRAYER
Lord, all too often I look at all the poverty, inequality, injustice, and suffering our world is so full of with a glib, “Well, that’s not my fault.” But could it be that, notwithstanding that, it might well be my time? Deliver me from such a callous, cavalier attitude and convict me to take some serious, specific action.
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