“But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.”
No one ever plans to upset an entire mob family or the government, at least not in real life. Here we have a simple case of following one’s own convictions. Mordecai was a Jew in Babylon and he practiced all that the Lord had told him to do. He even raised Esther, his niece, under the guidelines of his faith in God. His faith in God and daily activities as a Jewish person will soon ignite a storm of genocide.
Hamman was a wicked man and an enemy of the Jews. The Bible says he was an Agagite. He was most likely a descendant of Agag, which under Saul, wiped out the Agagites and most likely grew up hearing stories of how the Israelites defeated them and killed most of their people. Needless to say, Hamman had it in for the Israelites as well as his big ego was bruised because Mordecai would not bow down before him while he rode through the streets of Susa. Hamman was second in command under the king and Mordecai was a thorn he needed to get rid of.
From Mordecai’s perspective things were getting really bad and it was all because he would not bow down or pay honor to Hamman. Later, we will read that Hamman concocts a plan to kill all of the Israelites once and for all. You might be in the same spot as Mordecai? You were just doing what you always had done by keeping to your convictions and low and behold, you find yourself up against more than you can handle. Even though Mordecai knew the consequences of not paying homage to Hamman he stuck to his convictions as an Israelite.
Some of you need to know that God has a plan in the middle of your distress. All Mordecai knew was that he was not going to honor a wicked man like Hamman. Hamman even comments to the king of how these Jews have different customs from all of the other people (vs. 8). Following the Lord was setting the Jews apart from all of the other people. Sometimes it gets hot when you are close to the flame. Hamman’s attempt at genocide had the king’s stamp of approval and the message was sent out to all the kingdom. The day for the genocide was even set and marked on the edict. It was getting hot for sure.
The first step in following God is deciding to stop giving in. For so long you may have always given into temptation or did what you were told to do. Today, decide to stand up for your Christian convictions and quit backing down when your Christian ways are mocked. The Bible says we are to be ready to stand and defend the faith in the middle of the onslaught from the enemy. Don’t worry about being politically correct, be Biblically correct. Stand up for the faith you have chosen to believe in. We all have fallen short and stopped listening to the Holy Spirit speaking to us at times. So today, ask for the boldness of Mordecai to be with you in your times of trial. Christ died on a cross for you to have the boldness that He walked with. Get to know Him and realize the boldness we have inside.
Let It Go 
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