Wisdom from Lord of the Rings in Dark Times

Our Pastor was preaching on Esther 4, where she is confronted with her responsibility to use the position that God has put her in to save the Jews. Esther knows that she could die if she approaches the King without asking, but Mordecai says to Esther, "Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

Often we are not happy with the circumstances in which we find ourselves, esp. as the ungodly are increasingly attacking the people of God. So we are prone to become paralysed, asking ourselves, why do we have to live in this age of declension and opposition, and not in a time of revival?

I find the following from The Lord of the Rings helpful as reflective of Biblical thinking (I couldn't find where this is in the book, but this exchange happens in the Mines of Moria in the film):

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 to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in the world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you also were meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.