Esther 3:6 (ESV)

But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

What incredible overkill. Haman’s ego was so fragile that his response to one man’s disdain was to destroy an entire race. But, that is not unlike what is happening in our own country today. A black man is killed by a cop. We conclude that all cops are evil. Cops are killed by a black man. We conclude that all black men are angry and destructive. A pastor cheats on his wife. We conclude that all pastors are hypocritical, cheating, and selfish. An LGBTQ individual feels hurt by a statement made in church. We conclude that all Christians hate the LGBTQ community. We divide and destroy, not because cops kill people, not because cops get killed, not because some pastors cheat on their wives, or because some Christians do hate LGBTQ. We divide and destroy because of our own insecurities.

Haman could easily have laughed at one little, insignificant Jew who spent most of his time hanging out in front of the palace. He could have easily had Mordecai punished. He could have recognized the silliness of requiring everybody to bow before him and lifted the requirement. It was his own insecurity that pushed him to genocide. That’s a pretty major issue, but so many of our own relational issues in life are also viewed as the result of someone else’s actions. In fact, almost always it is simply the result of our own sense of insecurity and insignificance. We have not learned to find our security and significance in Christ and so we blame others.

Mordecai didn’t have to bow before Haman. He didn’t have to bow because it didn’t matter to him what Haman thought of him. He didn’t have to bow because he knew his security was in God, not man. It wasn’t about one ego standing up against another ego. It was about one man who understood where his security lay. It lay in the God who had protected his people throughout the ages. It lay in the God who had kept his word and sent his people into captivity when they disobeyed. It lay in the God who promised to restore his people if they would repent. It lay in the God who had set things in motion to protect his people years before the threat showed up. That is the God Mordecai trusted. That is a God Haman had no knowledge of.