Editor’s note: “The Spoken Word” is shared by Derrick Porter each Sunday during the weekly Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square broadcast. This will be given Sunday, June 21, 2026. This week is No. 5,049 of the broadcast.
Please note: Reservations are needed to attend “Music & the Spoken Word” in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Find out more about how to make reservations here. Also, due to the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra’s upcoming performances at the Hollywood Bowl in California, there will not be a live performance of “Music & the Spoken Word” on June 28 (and no public rehearsal on June 25), and a past performance will be streamed.
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?” (Esther 4:14). 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 (see Esther 3-10).
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?”
Tuning in …
The “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast is available on KSL-TV, KSL News Radio 1160AM/102.7FM, KSL.com, BYUtv, BYUradio, Dish and DirecTV, SiriusXM (Ch. 143), tabernaclechoir.org, youtube.com/TheTabernacleChoir and Amazon Alexa (must enable skill). The program is aired live on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time on these outlets. Look up broadcast information by state and city at musicandthespokenword.com/viewers-listeners/airing-schedules.
