When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape [the destruction of the Jews that Haman had duped the king into ordering]. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.

On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. When he saw Queen Esther standing in the court, he was pleased with her and held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. Then the king asked, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be given you.” “If it pleases the king,” replied Esther, “let the king, together with Haman, come today to a banquet I have prepared for him.” “Bring Haman at once,” the king said, “so that we may do what Esther asks.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared. As they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, “Now what is your petition? It will be given you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.” Esther replied, “My petition and my request is this: If the king regards me with favor and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.” Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. Calling together his friends and Zeresh, his wife, Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials. “And that’s not all,” Haman added. “I’m the only person Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.” His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a pole set up, reaching to a height of fifty cubits, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai impaled on it. Then go with the king to the banquet and enjoy yourself.” This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the pole set up.

–Esther 4:12-5:14 (TNIV)

If you have never read the book of Esther, I wholeheartedly commend it to you. It tells a gripping story of the destructive effects of human pride and how God works to overcome it. Nowhere in the book of Esther is God mentioned explicitly. The closest thing we have is Mordecai’s response above to Esther that, “deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place [God]” and that, “who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:12-14). No, the writer shows how God works in and through the ordinary events, circumstances, and people of our daily lives to accomplish he will.

In the passage above, we see the main villain, Haman, in all his ugly and destructive pride. He has previously duped King Xerxes into unknowingly ordering the destruction of the Jews and now he is gloating about it and receiving encouragement from his wife and friends. He has done all this because he was snubbed, at least in his own mind, by the Jew Mordecai earlier in the narrative. The irony in all this, of course, is that Xerxes’ new queen Esther is a Jew herself, albeit unknown to either Haman or Xerxes at this point in the narrative.

And so we see Haman gloating over his apparent success and being all puffed up by it. Little does he know that his undoing is just around the corner, for you see, God is never mocked and his will is never thwarted. God called the Jews to be his people and he is not about to let the likes of Haman destroy his inheritance!

We can appropriately draw two lessons from today’s passage. First let us draw comfort that God works in and through the ordinary events and people of our lives. Sometimes we want or expect God to work only through the dramatic. But here we are reminded that while God can certainly do that, he chooses more often than not to work through the ordinary. Can anything therefore ever be considered ordinary in our lives? At this point in the narrative, things look very bleak for Esther and her people–until we remember that God is actively at work in the ordinary events, people, and circumstances of her life. God is doing likewise with us, even when things appear to be terribly dark in our lives.

Second, let us be on guard against the onslaught of pride. Like Haman, when things are rocking along for us in our lives and we are enjoying success after success, we tend to delude ourselves into thinking that we are responsible for our success, that we are somehow special or better than others when in fact we are nothing of the kind. God uses our success (and failures) for his purposes and to accomplish his will, not ours. Remembering this provides us with a healthy antidote against human pride.

And while we are on the topic of human pride, if you choose to continue to read the story of Esther (and I hope you do), pay attention to your reaction to Haman’s fate later in the narrative. Do you experience primarily glee or sorrow? How you react toward Haman will give you keen insight into your the degree that human pride is bedeviling you.