You Were Made For This!

A devotional for healthcare workers

Queen Esther

The past few weeks have been exhausting as healthcare workers across the country have faced the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.  While most people are just now realizing how serious COVID-19 is, everyone in healthcare has been working tirelessly…in many cases around the clock.  Whether caring for patients directly, making contingency plans, communicating, coordinating with state and federal agencies, everyone has been working hard…and you are tired…very tired.

One frustrating and discouraging fact is that we are likely just at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.  More people will get sick and things will likely get worse before they get better.  While you may not have said it out loud, its likely your inner voice has said “I can’t do this!” a few times.

As I listen to healthcare workers, I am reminded of the wonderful Bible story of Esther.  Esther was a Jew who found herself elevated from captive to queen of the Persian king Xerxes.  Haman, one of the king’s advisors, tricks the king into issuing a decree across the empire allowing the Jews to be killed and their property seized.  Esther’s uncle Mordecai tells her about the plan to destroy the Jews and begs her to approach the king, reveal that she is a Jew, and ask Xerxes to revoke his decree.

Esther is afraid.  To approach the king without a summons is to risk death.  She doesn’t want to do it.  Mordecai points out that God may have allowed Esther to become queen “for such a time as this.”  He tells her that perhaps she was made for this moment.  Esther prays and gathers her courage and approaches the king.  Xerxes receives her and is furious to learn of Haman’s evil plan.  In the end, Haman is executed and Mordecai is elevated as the king’s top advisor. 

I am a huge fan of Lord of the Rings and recall an exchange between Frodo, the main character, and Gandalf, a kindly wizard companion.  Frodo is discouraged and feels his task is impossible:

Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me.  I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf:  So do all who live to see such times; but that is not for them to decide.  All we have to decide is what we will do with the time given to us.  There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil.  Bilbo was meant to find the Ring.  In which case, you were also meant to have it.  And that is an encouraging thought.

Gandalf does not dismiss Frodo’s concerns – they are real.  Speaking words similar to Mordecai’s words to Esther, Gandalf offers hope and reminds Frodo that perhaps he has been prepared for such a time as this. 

Yes, the COVID-19 pandemic is very real.  But what if you were made for this?  What if all your healthcare training and experiences were preparation for this season of life?  What if all the prior struggles, crises, and challenges you’ve previously overcome now served to strengthen you…for this moment?  What if the skills, knowledge, and experience God has gifted you with are the very tools God has given you…for this moment?  Instead of thinking “I can’t do this,” what if you said, “I was made for this!”  That is an encouraging thought indeed!