Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
In a moment of self-doubt, I once went to my father for advice. I explained my situation and why I wasn’t sure I could accomplish what I had set out to do. He listened intently and then responded, “If not you, then who?”
I took those five words home with me and thought of them often. It’s now been many years since he shared that counsel, but it has never left me. The question my dad asked that day—“If not you, then who?”—wasn’t meant to suggest that I was the only one who could accomplish my goal. But it was meant to remind me that even when challenges seem daunting, I could embrace the task and move forward with faith.
We each face moments in life when we know action is required, yet find ourselves standing at the edge of the proverbial high dive, asking, “Can I really do this?” Well, it’s in these moments that we can look to God—our Father in Heaven—and receive His loving, stabilizing reassurance.
Whether beginning a new journey or starting over for the hundredth time, whether pleading for a softer heart or striving to turn a wrong into a right, we will find that as we turn to God in our decisions, we are filled with His Spirit and His assurance, giving us the confidence to move forward in the direction He would have us go.
Once an orphan and later a queen, Esther found herself in a dangerous predicament. A decree had been issued to destroy all the Jews in the land. Esther, a Jew herself, was urged by her cousin Mordecai to go before the king and plead for her people, but to do so uninvited was punishable by death. Mordecai urged her again, saying, “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” His question was another way of asking, “If not you, then who?”
Esther did act. She valiantly approached the king, trusting that God would preserve her and her people. Hidden things came to light, her people were spared, and her quiet courage changed the course of history.
At one time or another, we all are “come … for such a time as this.” In those moments when we know we must act yet feel fear and self-doubt, may we remember the simple counsel: “If not you, then who?”
In a moment of self-doubt, I once went to my father for advice. I explained my situation and why I wasn’t sure I could accomplish what I had set out to do. He listened intently and then responded, “If not you, then who?”
I took those five words home with me and thought of them often. It’s now been many years since he shared that counsel, but it has never left me. The question my dad asked that day—“If not you, then who?”—wasn’t meant to suggest that I was the only one who could accomplish my goal. But it was meant to remind me that even when challenges seem daunting, I could embrace the task and move forward with faith.
We each face moments in life when we know action is required, yet find ourselves standing at the edge of the proverbial high dive, asking, “Can I really do this?” Well, it’s in these moments that we can look to God—our Father in Heaven—and receive His loving, stabilizing reassurance.
Whether beginning a new journey or starting over for the hundredth time, whether pleading for a softer heart or striving to turn a wrong into a right, we will find that as we turn to God in our decisions, we are filled with His Spirit and His assurance, giving us the confidence to move forward in the direction He would have us go.
Once an orphan and later a queen, Esther found herself in a dangerous predicament. A decree had been issued to destroy all the Jews in the land. Esther, a Jew herself, was urged by her cousin Mordecai to go before the king and plead for her people, but to do so uninvited was punishable by death. Mordecai urged her again, saying, “Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” His question was another way of asking, “If not you, then who?”
Esther did act. She valiantly approached the king, trusting that God would preserve her and her people. Hidden things came to light, her people were spared, and her quiet courage changed the course of history.
At one time or another, we all are “come … for such a time as this.” In those moments when we know we must act yet feel fear and self-doubt, may we remember the simple counsel: “If not you, then who?”
