We have noticed that it is a faulty interpretation of Mordecai’s words to Esther in Esther 4:13-14 to conclude that God excuses the unwilling from service to Him. Esther appeared at first unwilling, but God apparently used Mordecai’s encouragement to help her decide to go. The point is: she went. We do not find a Biblical pattern of people whom God chooses for a task being excused and God turning to someone else as a “plan B”.

We read in 2 Chron. 36:22, “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing.” And in Ezra 7:27-28, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of our fathers, who has put it into the king's heart to bring honor to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem in this way and who has extended his good favor to me before the king and his advisers and all the king's powerful officials. Because the hand of the Lord my God was on me, I took courage and gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.”

"They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezek 11:18-20). Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative” (2 Cor 8:16-17). God placed the concern in Titus’ heart, and then Titus went on his own initiative! And in Rev. 17:17, “For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God's words are fulfilled”

By now the principle of God’s operation with men should be obvious. Scripture teaches consistently that God places within the hearts of the people whom He chooses for a task the willingness to do it and then equips them for that task. As Jesus said to His disciples, “But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matt 10:19-20). Truly God is entirely sovereign over His purposes!