Remain Humble In His Honour.

 “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.” – Est. 6:10 NIV

Remain Humble In His Honour_21122020

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It was a case of different strokes for different folks. The king and Haman were having fun over one or two drinks whilst the people of Susa were in a state of bewilderment (Est. 3:15) and Mordecai and all the Jews were dressed in sack clothes and ashes and wailing loudly – Est. 4:1-3. All being follow-up reaction to the decree of the king despatched to all the provinces under his control that all the Jews, young and old should be destroyed, killed and annihilated. This was because Haman was seeking to have his pound of flesh due to the refusal of Mordecai to kneel down and pay homage to him as instructed by the king, initially reported to him by the officials at the gate and subsequently confirmed by him (Est. 3:1-6), and he had succeeded in tricking the king to issue that decree.

All entreaties by Queen Esther when she heard of the fate of his uncle and the Jews failed as Mordecai insisted that she must intercede on behalf of the Jews and ensure that the king’s orders were not implemented as he suggested that may be  the reason why the Lord put her in position. She eventually agreed to do the bidding of Mordecai but asked that her people support her with prayer and fasting as the repercussion can be bad if the queen approaches the king’s chamber uninvited – Est. 4:4-17.

Resulting from this decree, three different plans from different sources were revealed. There was firstly the plan of Esther to seek the king’s approval to upturn or reverse the decree through a request to be presented to the king. This she planned to do over a banquet which intends to hold with only the king and Haman in attendance, an invitation that they both agreed to honour  – Est. 5:1-8.

The second plan was the plan of Haman, who was incensed by the insistence of Mordecai not to acknowledge and honour him on his way out, on the first day of the banquet.  He informed his wife and friends about his frustration with the situation with Mordecai and was advised to set up a fifty cubit pole, in anticipation of leveraging on his  relationship with the king to get the approval to have Mordecai impaled on it. This was to be done on the morning of the second day of the  banquet so he could enjoy his banquet appointment with the royal couple later in the day, a plan which he felt was great and so, he accepted – Est. 5:9-14.

There was however the third plan which was the plan of the Almighty God. On the night of the first day of the banquet, He had switched the thoughts of the king to an event that involved the plan of two of his security guards, Bigthana and Teresa to settle scores with the king by murdering him. His life was saved on that occasion by the information made available to him by the Queen which she credited Mordecai with. It occurred to him that he had not appreciated the person through whom the information came so when Haman came to seek approval for his own plan, he met the king, who sought his opinion on how to honour someone he, the King, has delight in, though he did not mention names. Haman, thinking the plan of the king was for him, suggested that such a person be dressed in royal robes of one of the nobles, placed on royal horse bearing royal crest and led through the city streets with announcements of the grateful thoughts of the king. One can only imagine his disappointment when he discovered that the person he planned to impale on the pole was the one the king wanted to honour and worse still, he was saddled with the responsibility to implement it – Est. 6:1-11.

God’s plan played out commencing with upturning of the plan to hang and disgrace Mordecai, and replacing it with honour by the king, more so, to be implemented by the one that planned for him to be hanged in the first place. The Almighty God was however not done.

Haman still had to attend the banquet later in the evening which he did and God completed his plan. The revelation by Queen Esther that Haman was behind a plot to kill her people including the one who had saved the life of the king got the king distraught but worse still was the king coming back from the palace garden, into the banquet hall, to see Haman just at the time he was tripping on the couch that the Queen was sitting on. Believing that he was molesting the Queen, and based on the information and advise he got from Harbona, one of the eunuchs, he took no time issuing instructions that Haman be given the same treatment he had reserved for Mordecai – Est. 7:1-10. Haman had allowed his ego drive him to dig a grave which he did not know was for himself.

Christians need to be careful of what danger they are exposed to if they do not manage that position of honour very well so that ego will not destroy them. All that could have happened was for Haman to focus on the honour of the king and ignore ordinary men that have refused to do what the king had instructed, after all it was the king’s instructions that was being violated and not that of Haman. If only he had allowed the king to react, he would have saved himself from the situation that his wife and friends got him into.

Several Christians are in this position of Haman today. Definitely honoured by the Almighty God, they react to their being dishonoured and disrespected by mere men. Such need to quickly adjust before the fate of Haman befalls them. They need to be patient and let everyone grow into the mood of respecting and honouring them. Like it is widely said, respect and honour cannot be forced out of people, but will have to be deserved and merited, just as it will never happen that everyone around you will respect you simply because God has decreed it to be so, after all, that same Almighty God in all his glory and majesty, is still being dishonoured daily by His creations with you probably included, and he choses not to react, at least not immediately. Allow God to enforce His instructions that you should be honoured and you will save yourself from commiting spiritual and possibly physical suicide. He has honoured some people before you and he did not by honouring make you more honourable than all. His honour has nothing to do with your social status so it cannot be that all who are lower than you in terms of social status are less honourable than you. Before Him, they may actually be more honourable. Remain humble in his honour and you will enjoy greater honour. May God grant us humility in his honour for us in Jesus name. Amen.