Courage Under Pressure
- Aug 11, 2025
- 12 min read
Courage Under Pressure: For Such a Time as This
Have you ever been in a moment where you knew you had to say something—but everything in you wanted to stay silent?
Maybe it was a meeting, a family dinner, a social media post or something happening in society when someone said or did something hurtful, untrue, or unjust.
Your heart started pounding as you wanted to react but stopped to think about what you should do. You wondered: “Should I speak up? What should I say? What will it cost me?”
These aren’t just moral crossroads. They are spiritual ones.
And what we do in these moments, especially if nobody else is watching, shapes who we are and how deeply we trust God.
Today, we’re going to talk about a woman who faced just that kind of pressure: Esther. And what we’ll see is that choosing courage in difficult situations is not just bold—it’s an act of spiritual wellness and deep faith in God.
Key characters – Queen Esther, Mordecai (Esther’s Uncle/adoptive father), the King Ahasuerus and Haman (Grand Vizer)
Location & Timing: Persian Empire around 460 BC in the Capitol city of Susa
What's going on: The Jews are currently in exile, dispersed among the land and not highly favored
Our story begins with King Ahasuerus throwing an extravagant and lengthy feast for the Persians and Medians.
At the end of it, he ordered his Queen, Vashti, to come out wearing the royal crown. Queen Vashti refused and the King was furious so after seeking counsel, he banished her.
The Kings advisors threw a giant beauty pageant with the most beautiful girls in all the land and Esther was chosen as the most beautiful to become the new Queen.
Mordecai, Esther’s Uncle, warned her to stay silent about being a Jew.
Meanwhile, Haman, who became the right-hand man to the King grew in power and ego.
One day, Mordecai wouldn’t bow to him and Haman was furious. He decided he couldn’t face him directly, so instead, he tricked the King and had a royal edict signed to kill all the Jews. Remember, they're not highly favored at all so this isn't Just about Haman's dislike of Mordecai. He already disliked all Jews.
Haman drew lots (pur) to decide that this genocide would happen on the 13th day in the Twelfth month of Adar.
Mordecai heard about the edict and put on sack cloths and stood outside the palace gates grieving. Esther’s servants saw this and reported it to her inside the palace.
Through her servant, she asked what was wrong and he told her of the edict. See, even thought she was in the palace, she wasn’t fully aware of what was going on outside of it. Mordecai then urged her to go to the King and beg for the safety of their people.
Esther reminded him that no one could go before the king without being summoned. And it had been thirty days since she was summoned. If the king didn’t extend his scepter as she approached, she would be killed.
Essentially, she told him no.
This is where the famous verses come in.
In Chapter 4:13-14 Mordecai tells Esther; “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”
The Character’s Challenge & Growth
Esther was facing major pressure from a few different areas that really challenged her. First there was the pressure of self-preservation to stay silent and not go before the King because she could have been killed!
Next, there was the pressure to stay silent, to maintain the status quo and not shake things up. She had been Queen for five years by now and was entrenched in the palace ways. She was reluctant to go against the grain. It’s possibly a reason why when she first found out that Mordecai was in sack cloths, she sent him clothes instead of asking why he was mourning.
Then Esther faced the pressure to act, to speak out and put her life on the line for her people. When she first said No, Mordecai called her out and wasn’t having it.
There was a lot of pressure from many angles all at conflict with one another. Can you imagine how that must have felt?
I mean, most of us, I would venture to say, have never had to face a life or death situation. And thank goodness for that. But we have had to face pressures related to society and maintaining the status quo.
We’ve also faced pressure from loved ones to do or say one thing or another, or to remain silent. We have felt the need, either internally or externally to speak out and say something when we see something unjust, unkind, unfair.
And it’s all hard and scary and often times confusing to face all of this pressure!
After verse 14 with the famous line of “For such a time as this.” Esther’s reply is courageous.
Esther made a decision and took action. She left behind her title of an orphaned girl who was just a pawn in the courts of Susa and truly stepped into her title of Queen and daughter of God.
She ordered Mordecai to gather all the Jews in the city of Susa and fast for three nights and days and she and her maids would do the same. She said “When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
So she spent three nights fasting to prepare herself for the challenge ahead. She was joined by her people, her community, and we assume God.
The book of Esther is the only time in the Bible where God is never actually mentioned by name. I mean, it’s evident his hands are all through-out the story, but he’s never directly named. So we don’t get an actual look at how Esther interacted with him.
One can only assume that in order to prepare for such a monumental task she spent that time on her knees before God. I mean, that’s what I do!
Queen Esther formulated a plan in that time and was ready to set it in motion when the time came to end the fast.
That next morning, she got up, got dressed in her royal robes and she went before the King finding favor at once with him. He extended his golden scepter and she was saved! God’s favor went with her wherever she went.
The time she spent fasting and in communion with God increased her spiritual wellness so that she was prepared to do a truly hard and courageous thing. You’ve got to have a deep faith that God will provide for you when you’re preparing to take that kind of step.
Esther continued to be courageous under pressure as she invited the King and Haman to a banquet. The first night, when she could have revealed everything, she instead kept her secret close to the vest and simply asked for another banquet the next night.
On that second night at the banquet, when the King asked her what she wanted, she revealed all the cards. She reminded the King of the edict Haman had written and declared for the first time in court that she was a Jew. She begged for mercy for her and her people to be saved from the coming destruction.
She bravely stood her ground as one of God’s people and fought to stop their potential genocide.
Esther's courage wasn’t about being brave in her own strength. It was about trusting God so deeply that obedience became more important than self-protection. That’s what spiritual wellness looks like under pressure.
God’s Purpose in Your Position
Have you ever found yourself in a situation, a job or stage in life where you looked around and thought “What the heck am I doing here? How did I get here? Why did this happen?”
I am certain there were points along Esther’s journey to being a Queen and even after where she would have asked those very same questions.
I’ve heard someone say that God is really good at getting us where he needs us to be. And I believe that while we have the freedom to choose our own paths in life, God is giving us solid directions should we chose to follow him.
This also includes God directing our paths so that we experience what we need to grow in spiritual maturity and wellness. Esther’s story is an example of this.
She was an orphaned Jewish girl who spent a year doing beauty treatments with potentially hundreds of other woman and she ended up Queen. This was one of the most unlikely scenarios possible.
Then throughout the story you repeatedly see where it says, “she found favor with the King.”
We are led to believe that it’s the unspoken hand of God directing her path to show her she can trust him and where he is guiding her. And it all leads to that crucial moment, “for such a time as this.”
As far as we know, this isn’t explained to her, her presence in the royal court of Susa. But Mordecai sees the opportunity when the moment comes.
I worked for the University of Florida, a small department focused on STEM programs, for about 6 months. It was for a short project in the first place, but my time was ended early. When I was told my position was being cut, I was in complete shock and deeply hurt.
It was actually quite a traumatic experience for me. I started to question why I’d even been put there in the first place. Why would God bring me to the job for such a short time?
Well, they say hindsight is 20/20. When I looked back at that time, I eventually realized that there was a big and brief blessing of my time spent there.
It was the highest paying job Connor or I had had to date which really came in handy when I ended up in a fairly major car accident during my time there. Insurance helped, but I still ended up with about $5,000 in bills for the ambulance, hospital trip with x-rays and damage to the other car and people in it.
Because of my job at UF, I was able to pay for all of that in a reasonable time frame and we didn’t have to go into debt because of the accident. By the time my job was done, we were done paying off those bills.
We would have taken a lot longer to pay for all of that if I'd still been working part-time at Bed, Bath & Beyond and part-time in Aftercare! My short time at UF ended up being a huge blessing even though it ended painfully and it took some time to realize that.
That is one of the experiences that taught me to trust that God places us where we need to be. I know that there is a purpose to our placement.
Connecting to Wellness
The story of Esther was written in part to encourage an exiled people that God was still at work in their lives. It gave hope to the Jewish nation that while they were a minority in Persia and in this book, facing antisemitic genocide, God provides justice.
For us today who aren’t Jews facing exile or oppression, a key takeaway is that God uses courageous people who have a level of spiritual wellness to bring about justice.
We do not always know what God’s purpose is for our placement. Unfortunately, we may never truly know this side of Heaven.
I like to think I understand at least in part some of the reasons why God has taken me to certain places throughout my life. But I know full well that I could be completely off base or only scratching the surface of it. I know that my placement has impact that I may never see and I’m ok with that.
Our human brains want a reason for everything so we’re going to try and figure it out. I don’t think that’s a faithless act. I think asking God “why did you bring me here” can be a faithful step and one that builds on your spiritual wellness.
It’s a way of acknowledging that God has brought us somewhere for a purpose and we’re seeking his direction in it.
When we can trust God with the purpose for our placement, it builds up our courage, and our spiritual wellness. You learn to trust him deeper and maybe trust him with a new area of your life.
We’re going to spend our whole lives in different places and situations that we don’t expect and don’t want to be in. We’ll also hopefully spend a lot of time in places where we’re planning and hoping to be. And that’s why it is difficult but necessary to grow our courage and spiritual wellness.
I want to ask you, can you think of a place/job/situation/family scenario where has God placed you that might be more purposeful than you realize? Is God calling you to a bold step of faith right now?
Relatable Examples: Maybe you do or have needed to leave a toxic job, speak up against wrongdoing, set boundaries with someone. Maybe you were in the right place at the right time to help a stranger in need and you wouldn’t have found yourself there if a plan hadn’t gone awry.
We’ve got to start looking for opportunities where God is calling us to be courageous.
Choosing Courage Over Comfort
Since we know that we will be faced with difficult situations in life, we need to know how to face our circumstances and choose courage over comfort.
I want to give you some really practical ways you can go about this. Specifics will look different depending on each situation, but the general idea should work for everyone who has time to implement these steps.
If you’re in a scenario that requires immediate action, you’ll have to condense this into the basic necessities.
Steps to Courage:
Remember God’s faithfulness
Look back on your life and see where God has been faithful, remind yourself of it. For me, I know that God will always provide housing for me and my family, and I do not fear ever being without.
Seek wisdom in community
Who is a mentor you trust in this area of your life? Maybe it’s a boss, a pastor, a parent or friend. Find someone you trust and talk through the situation with them. Get their advice.
Meditate on Scripture
There are so many verses in the Bible that can bolster your courage as you meditate on them. Pray the verses, memorize them, repeat them throughout the day as you need to. Save them in a list on your phone or make it a phone wallpaper, put them on a post it note on your desk or car dashboard. Surround yourself with the truths meant to give you courage to accomplish what God is calling you to do.
Google a list of verses if none come to mind. There’s plenty out there.
Pray honestly
God isn’t asking for perfection when he calls you to action, he wants your honesty and your obedience. He knows what he’s asking you to do and what it will cost you. The last thing he wants is for you to put up a front about how you’re feeling.
Did you know that many biblical leaders first response to God’s call to action was “No!” Think of Moses when he was asked to go before Pharaoh and free the people or Jonah when God told him to go share God’s saving grace with the Ninevites. They were honest that they felt they didn’t measure up or that the evil Ninevites surely didn’t deserve God’s mercy.
They eventually came around and God got them where he needed them, but they were honest about how they felt. And He wants your honesty too.
Do Not Fear
Courage isn’t the absence of fear—it’s action in spite of it.
God tells us repeatedly in the Bible, do not fear. In fact, he commands it 365 times. One for every day of our year. Facing and managing our fear is a skill we can develop. We may be taking these first few steps scared, but then, as we courageously take action, we can move from fear to faith and peace.
Esther fasted and we presume, prayed before acting because she needed guidance. Her life was on the line.
Most of us don’t face such dire circumstances that are life vs death, but it doesn’t mean we need any less courage to live God’s way in this day and age.
The Bottom Line
So how does the story of Esther end? Well, it gets a bit gruesome honestly.
The last thing we talked about was Esther revealing Haman’s plot to destroy the Jews, her people. And the King is enraged.
One of his servants comes to the King at that moment and tells him that Haman had a giant gallows built to hang Mordecai and he orders Haman himself to be hung on it.
Mordecai received a newly elevated position, replacing Haman and he worked with Esther to write a new edict. Since a royal edict cannot be undone they wrote this new one allowing Jews to stand up and fight to defend themselves on the day originally meant to be their demise.
They defended themselves gloriously and overcame the haters. In the capitol city of Susa the Jews were granted a second day to route out all the antisemitic and thousands of people died in those two days.
Those two days became known as Purim, a festival where people shared gifts of food with family and the poor in remembrance of the days they were able to save themselves.
The Jewish people still celebrate this feast every year in remembrance of that.
So I want to invite you to take that courageous step God is calling you to “for such a time as this”. You are not alone. God has prepared you for this and placed you where you are for a purpose.
Remember God’s faithfulness, seek wisdom, meditate on scripture, be honest with God and do not fear.
Choosing courage in difficult situations is an act of spiritual wellness and shows great faith in God.
Head, Heart & Hands Questions
Some questions for reflection.
Head – Which step(s) to courage is a surprising way to grow your spiritual wellness?
Heart – Did the key verse “For such a time as this” encourage you to look at a difficult situation in a new light?
Hands – What situation are you in that you see or suspect God has placed you there for a reason?
What has God been calling you to do where you have yet to take that step of courage?
I hope this sermon blesses you as you read it today. May it give you courage and practical steps to help you grow in faith.
Love, Marcie
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