I simply love the story in Esther chapter six and
when I read it again this morning; I had such a laugh at how the Lord arranged
for Haman to be humbled. Jesus said in Matthew 23:12: “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” and this is exactly what the Lord has
arranged for Haman.
We need to be so careful of how we
think of ourselves. We are cautioned in Romans 12:3: “For by the grace given me
I say to every one of you: Do not think
of yourself more highly than you
ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in
accordance with the measure of faith God has given you,” and we need to check
ourselves continuously. It is natural for man to become proud and conceited and
therefore part of the sinful nature that resists the Holy Spirit. He therefore
makes it His business to keep anybody who is serious about the Lord humble.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:7: “To
keep me from becoming conceited because of these
surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a
messenger of Satan, to torment me.” A very ‘dangerous’ worship song to sing and
mean is called ‘I Surrender All’. The Lord tends to take us by our word and
answers our prayers. He will therefore ensure we stay surrendered and humble,
for it is not His desire for us to follow in Haman’s footsteps.
Haman had this incredible desire to
be great and it is inborn in the nature of us all. Satan knows it and makes it
his business to try and get us to exalt ourselves. He even tried it with Jesus.
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed
him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. ‘All
this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’”
Yielding to fame, pride, selfish wealth and so on is worshiping Satan, since he
is the master of those things so prevalent in this world, of which he is god.
The Lord, however, loves us enough
to make sure we do not yield to pride if we asked Him to help us. Pride will
not get into heaven and the Lord’s standards are very high. I have asked the
Lord to keep me humble and every time when I have just a hint of thinking I am
cool, something happens that brings me down to earth. In the LORD’s presence
there is only place for His glory, as it will be in heaven as well. So if we
want to be in His presence, we need to forget about our glory.
Haman prepared something to glorify
himself and was so absorbed by himself that he was blinded to the consequences
of his selfishness and this led to him being humiliated in order to exalt the
man he despised. This is God’s humour. He hates pride and if we become proud,
resisting His promptings to stay humble, He will
take drastic steps to humble us, for He loves us and wants us in His presence.
Lord, please help me stay humble.
Thank you Lord that your Word went
out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you
empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which
you sent it.
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