Hey guys, been a minute.

Hope yáll are doing good?

So today, we’ll be approaching a different angle in dissecting the Book of Esther. The first thing that comes to mind when this particular book of the Bible is mentioned is Favour, but that’s not our focus for today.

Let’s read from the Good News Translation, Esther 5:9–13, “When Haman left the banquet he was happy and in a good mood. But then he saw Mordecai at the entrance of the palace, and when Mordecai did not rise or show any sign of respect as he passed, Haman was furious with him. But he controlled himself and went on home. Then he invited his friends to his house and asked his wife Zeresh to join them. He boasted to them about how rich he was, how many sons he had, how the king had promoted him to high office, and how much more important he was than any of the king’s other officials. ‘What is more,’ Haman went on, ‘Queen Esther gave a banquet for no one but the king and me, and we are invited back tomorrow. But none of this means a thing to me as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the entrance of the palace.’”

Did y’ all see anything there?

• Haman was rich, in fact; so much so that he offered 10,000 large sacks of silver to be deposited in the royal treasury. (see Esther 3:9; NLT)
• He had many sons; you all know how proud a man is when he has one son, not to mention having ten of them! (see Esther 9:7)
• The king had very recently promoted him to the position of Prime minister. (See Esther 3:1) I would like to believe this meant he was second in command; only answerable to the king himself. He even mentioned he was more important than any of the king’s other officials.
• Also, the Queen invited just him and the king to a private banquet. Such privilege!

But all these paled in comparison to the perceived disrespect he felt coming from Mordecai. My question and confusion is how? You have what others only dream about. I’m pretty sure he also had a household of servants, a large number of farmlands, numerous farm animals and everything else a rich man had in those days. Even with all these, his only problem and mood-changer was the fact that one devout Jew refused to rise or bow down in reverence to him. This was a message for me because, on occasion, some of us might see ourselves in such a position – where the Lord blesses us so much but the only thorn in our flesh is that certain persons refuse to ‘bow’ to us; as if we are gods unto ourselves, and as if we became what we are on our own. As humans, it’s understandable that we crave a certain degree of respect from others but when it causes us to lose sleep and peace and makes us plan their demise, then it’s no longer normal. Pride is a destroyer and has led to the destruction of many. Haman might have been an unbeliever but it goes without saying, that for some of us that have become Believers, we still find ourselves struggling with such. Paul said that those things that used to matter so much to him have lost their essence in light of knowing God and I believe this to be true. There are things intimacy with God causes to happen to one. We need to really take time to determine what is important and what is not; in light of eternity. What others think about us is not a thing compared to what Jesus thinks about us. Who respects us doesn’t matter as long as Jesus says we don’t belong to Him. My prayer is that God gives us the grace to choose our battles wisely. A pity that Haman had to pay with his life, for his unbridled anger and pride. The man, Mordecai whose only offence was refusing to go against his God was later rewarded with Haman’s position and had even greater influence in the 127 provinces. May God help us be grateful for what He has given us even as we walk out our faith with fear and trembling, Amen.

If at the end of the day all you have is God, then you have more than enough.

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