For Such a Time as This Court

On September 20, 1973, twenty-nine-year-old Billie Jean King walked into the Houston Astrodome to face fifty-five-year-old Bobby Riggs before 30,472 spectators and an estimated 90 million television viewers worldwide. What many forget is that King almost never played that match. When Riggs first issued his challenge, she declined. It was Margaret Court who accepted — and lost badly on May 13, 1973, in what the press dubbed the "Mother's Day Massacre." After that defeat, King understood the stakes had changed. This was no longer a publicity stunt. The credibility of women's athletics — and the future of Title IX, signed into law just one year earlier — hung in the balance. She stepped forward and won decisively, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

King did not seek that moment. The moment sought her.

In Esther 4:14, Mordecai speaks words that still echo across the centuries: "Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?" Esther did not choose to be queen in a hostile court. She did not volunteer for the crisis that threatened her people. But when the moment arrived, she recognized that her silence would be its own kind of answer.

Some callings arrive uninvited. The question is never whether we feel ready. The question is whether we will step onto the court that the Almighty has already prepared — and trust that He who placed us there will sustain us through the match.