you can move on a maybe.

When I think about what I’m called to do or what is mine to do in a moment, I picture God being explicit, like He was with Moses (and so many others).

God calls Moses by name. He tells him exactly what he must do. Moses has doubts that God picked the right man for the job, but there is no doubt about who He called and what He said to do.

But so often, I feel more like Esther than Moses.

Esther was a Jew who, through a series of events leaning in her favor, ends up as queen. An evil man plotted to kill all the Jews and even got the king to issue a decree making it so. Mordecai, Esther’s cousin and legal guardian, asked her to step in and said this to her:

“Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”

This is not the voice of God. This is not confirmation. This is a guess that maybe this is a God-orchestrated opportunity.

It’s a pretty risky maybe. What Mordecai asked Esther to do was go to the king and plead for mercy on behalf of the Jews, but anyone who approached the king without being invited would die (unless the king held out his gold scepter). And the king had not called for Esther in the previous 30 days.

As I read this story recently, I kept thinking about how it wasn’t a clear directive for Esther. It could have been — God knows how to speak to His people. He could have had the king send for Esther, eliminating the risk and paving the way for her to step into her destiny. But He doesn’t.

The thing about the book of Esther is that God is not mentioned once. It doesn’t mean He’s not there, that His hand is not in the details or that His will is not being accomplished. But in order to recognize where God is in Esther’s story, you have to know who God is. You have to know His character — His fingerprint. It might be indirect, but evidence of God can be seen.

When Mordecai reached out to Esther, he didn’t present some uncertain theory born out of desperation. He points to God’s fingerprints and suggests there’s a chance that Esther could be part of the story God was telling. To that, she said yes.

Apparently, Esther thought it was worth the risk — and I want to too. Mine might not be a life-or-death situation, but I know what it’s like to face an opportunity that is maybe God, and saying yes takes courage.

Sometimes we don’t know for sure, but we can recognize the fingerprint of God in our lives, even when His voice isn’t calling our name. We can move on a maybe, even if it’s risky — because it’s worth it. He is worth it. He is worthy of the trust it takes to say yes.

The power of God is in you, even on a Thursday.