“That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him.”
Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
At the beginning of the Esther we find king Xerxes displaying his vast wealth for 180 days. He threw a great party lasting seven days after that. It was in this party with all the high ranking officials that his queen, Vashti, was used by God to humble the great king Xerxes by defying his order to parade in front of his party wearing nothing but her crown. Humbled and humiliated he cannot even make a decision on his own.
Fast forwarding, Haman, with anger burning against Mordecai (Esther’s uncle) for not bowing to him at the city gates, throws a similar party to show off his wealth. Remember Haman wanted not only Mordecai dead for his defiance, he wanted all of the Jewish population in all of Persia to be slain as well. Tricking the king into signing an edict to carry out this plan, we find Haman throwing a party just before the date of this genocide to take place. His wife bolsters his ego and gives him an idea to have a pole erected in which to impale Mordecai. Agreeing with his wife, a pole is erected and the genocide of Jews looks to be imminent.
Chapter 6 opens up with the king not being able to sleep and has the royal book of chronicles during his reign read to him. The very thing that was read that night was the time Mordecai foiled the plot of two of his officials (chapter 2).
We can bring up even more cases where pride has been the precursor of a fall. Nebuchadnezzar, Solomon, David, and Moses to name a few. In the case of Esther, Haman’s pride eventually led to his fall. Xerxes was still king after his prideful moment, but he was reduced in his effectiveness having most of the decisions being made for him by his officials. Pride comes before a fall, plain and simple.
You are not a king or a king’s official so what can we takeaway from this? For starters, your position is given to you by God. Your talents are given to you by God. Your effectiveness, your leadership abilities are all given to you by God. We, as humans with a sinful nature, pervert these gifts and use them for our own selfish motives as in the case of Xerxes and Haman. Both men had power and influence. Both will be humbled. One will die and one will be abased. In contrast, queen Esther orders a time of fasting and praying to God before she petitions the king about the genocide of her people. Esther went to God first before she made any decision. She did not let her pride get in the way. After all, she was the queen of largest empire on the globe and still she humbles herself before God.
The question is, have you been humbling yourself before God? Or have you been dressing up your wealth and showing it off to whomever will see it? Maybe your are the smartest in school, or the guy climbing the ladder at work, or have the perfect family and the perfect house. Are you letting these material things get in the way of God and putting your pride in front of the Almighty who gives and takes away?
Today, please, humble yourself before God. Let Him know that all the stuff you can show off takes second place to your faith in the one true God. The history of prideful people in the Bible is a long one. All I can say is that you don’t want the Lord God to humble you, it works better if you humble yourself.
Father, I humble myself to your almighty hand. I commit all may ways to you. I stand before your thrown and lay it all your feet. Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Father direct all of my paths today and I won’t let my pride come between you and I. Amen.
Let It Go 
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