Blowback
This week is on Esther 6:6-13:
This week's verses are a story of the ruin of a noble prince. In a way, they're also symbolic of Satan's downfall after accusing God's beloved church before him. Haman plots genocide against the people God had chosen at the time (the Jews) and then finds out afterwards that the bride of the king comes from those people. He is in HUGE trouble.
Shakespeare calls it being hoisted on your own petard. We plot against people, or for our own glory, only to find out that our plot is about to backfire. The thing we did to preserve our power is what destroys us. The thing we did to add glory to ourselves is what humiliates us. He who seeks to save his life loses it.
Haman, like Satan, was born into a position of glory and power. He was a noble man in a powerful kingdom. If he'd left things alone, he would have lived a very comfortable and honorable life. Unfortunately, like Satan, he wanted ultimate power. He wanted to be the top guy, and in his unbridled lust for greatness, he threw it all away. He was drenched in his own pride, his own self-glory.
The first lesson we can get from a situation like that is to be satisfied with what you have. Haman's life was pretty good, but he couldn't see it because of how inflamed his ambitions were. Call it materialism, call it greed, power-hunger, or whatever, it kept him from enjoying the blessing. Even if you're a billionaire, you're still going to have problems to solve every day, and things you can't fix. And even a poor idiot can find things to enjoy, if he isn't dreaming about being rich and powerful all of the time.
The second lesson is that God sticks up for the little guys. Esther and Mordecai were both members of an enslaved minority that had been brought in as peasants in their kingdom. They had no power of their own. Even Esther's natural good looks were worthless if the king's favor wasn't on her. Much like Esther petitioned the king patiently for her justice, we can get miraculous force-multiplying results by going patiently to God for our needs. What good did all of Haman's power and connections do him when put up against Mordecai and Esther's righteousness and favor?
The third lesson, I guess, is that Satan will be about as relevant after we die as Haman was after the party you should read about in Esther 7. As terrifying as the accuser may seem while he has his power, he'll get what's coming to him, and all the world will see it. (Want fame and glory? Everybody's looking at you now!)
Be humble and don't try to trample others to get ahead. Don't forsake your blessing in a mad dash to make a better one for yourself. And don't fear evil men. Fear the one who can bind and destroy them simply by speaking the word.
When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?”
Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?” So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!’”
“Go at once,” the king commanded Haman. “Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.”
So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!”
Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him.
His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him—you will surely come to ruin!”
This week's verses are a story of the ruin of a noble prince. In a way, they're also symbolic of Satan's downfall after accusing God's beloved church before him. Haman plots genocide against the people God had chosen at the time (the Jews) and then finds out afterwards that the bride of the king comes from those people. He is in HUGE trouble.
Shakespeare calls it being hoisted on your own petard. We plot against people, or for our own glory, only to find out that our plot is about to backfire. The thing we did to preserve our power is what destroys us. The thing we did to add glory to ourselves is what humiliates us. He who seeks to save his life loses it.
Haman, like Satan, was born into a position of glory and power. He was a noble man in a powerful kingdom. If he'd left things alone, he would have lived a very comfortable and honorable life. Unfortunately, like Satan, he wanted ultimate power. He wanted to be the top guy, and in his unbridled lust for greatness, he threw it all away. He was drenched in his own pride, his own self-glory.
The first lesson we can get from a situation like that is to be satisfied with what you have. Haman's life was pretty good, but he couldn't see it because of how inflamed his ambitions were. Call it materialism, call it greed, power-hunger, or whatever, it kept him from enjoying the blessing. Even if you're a billionaire, you're still going to have problems to solve every day, and things you can't fix. And even a poor idiot can find things to enjoy, if he isn't dreaming about being rich and powerful all of the time.
The second lesson is that God sticks up for the little guys. Esther and Mordecai were both members of an enslaved minority that had been brought in as peasants in their kingdom. They had no power of their own. Even Esther's natural good looks were worthless if the king's favor wasn't on her. Much like Esther petitioned the king patiently for her justice, we can get miraculous force-multiplying results by going patiently to God for our needs. What good did all of Haman's power and connections do him when put up against Mordecai and Esther's righteousness and favor?
The third lesson, I guess, is that Satan will be about as relevant after we die as Haman was after the party you should read about in Esther 7. As terrifying as the accuser may seem while he has his power, he'll get what's coming to him, and all the world will see it. (Want fame and glory? Everybody's looking at you now!)
Be humble and don't try to trample others to get ahead. Don't forsake your blessing in a mad dash to make a better one for yourself. And don't fear evil men. Fear the one who can bind and destroy them simply by speaking the word.
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