Hanging on is better than just hanging

Scripture Read: Esther 6:10-14 Then the king said to Haman, “Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate; do not fall short in anything of all that you have said.” ¹¹ So Haman took the robe and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.” ¹² Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered. ¹³ Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.” ¹⁴ While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hastily brought Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.

Application: It is amazing how evil thoughts, plans and even sin itself, blinds people. Haman had been lifted up by the King and was honored by everyone in the court except Mordecai. Instead of just enjoying the fame and honor by the King and the majority of the court he became fixated on one insignificant person. Sin grabbed hold of him and he was entrapped by his own plans and not able to turn back. It is also note worthy that “the Haman principle” can bring others into the trap who will also be blinded to the truth. 

Consider how his wife and friends now counsel Haman -“If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.” Where was this counsel earlier? They knew who Mordecai was.  Esther 5:13-14 “Yet all of this does not satisfy me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” ¹⁴ Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows fifty cubits high made and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go joyfully with the king to the banquet.” And the advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made. Evil and sin blinded his wife and friends also. He told them Mordecai was a Jew but it apparently did not register. That is what makes this thing I call “the Haman principle” so dangerous. It almost takes on a life of it’s own. Someone hatches an evil plan, and then they bring others into it. The others do not have all the information; they are caught up in their connection to the one who is so upset. They are impacted by that person’s emotion – even to the point that they do not consider all of the ramifications of the plan. They become pawns to the momentum of evil that confirms to the individual that his plans are good, yet they do not see they are being used by evil to destroy this person nor do they see they might even be destroyed in the process. Just think if Haman’s wife and friends had warned him in chapter 5 the way they are warning him now. Yet, it is too late. The trap has already begun to spring and Haman will be caught. We too need to be warned. We need to seek godly counsel concerning our plans – especially when they include dealing with others over a sensitive or emotional situation. Before we jump we should hang on for a moment. Stop, pray, seek counsel – wait on God.

Meditation Questions: How quickly do you act on decisions? What does that show? What process do you go through before you come to a decision? After you make a decision, do you seek any confirmation? Do you approach a decision with an agenda? What does that show? Is that bad or good? Why? What are key needs in decision making? Do you only think through your decisions or do you write them out so you can look at them? Let others look at them?