God Uses Our Enemies to Promote Us
The story told in the book of Esther involves Haman, the number one enemy of the Jews, Mordecai, the faithful Jewish man, the king of Babylon, and Esther- the Jewish girl who had been made queen. The Jews were living in exile in Babylon. Haman deceived the king of Babylon into making a decree to annihilate the Jews. He was acting as an ancient Hitler, orchestrating the extermination of the Jewish people. But God had other ideas.
So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself? And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honour, Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head: And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour. Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king's gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken. Esther 6:6-10 (KJV)
So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom. Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request: For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage. Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so? And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen…. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified. Esther 7:1-6, 10 (KJV)
God visited the king in the night. As a result, the king had the books brought in and found that Mordecai, the cousin of his Jewish queen Esther, had saved the king from an assassination plot. The king then asked Haman what should be done for the man that the king honors. Haman, thinking the king was referring to him, gave the king an elaborate plan for promoting him. The king liked this, and told Haman, the number one enemy of the Jews, to go and honor Mordecai the Jew before the people. The Bible refers to Mordecai repeatedly as Mordecai the Jew. This request infuriated Haman, who hated Mordecai with a passion. Therefore he tricked the king into issuing a decree for the destruction of all the Jews on a certain date.
Queen Esther, learning of Haman’s wicked plan, prepared a banquet for the king and invited Haman. She exposed Haman’s plot to the king. The Jews were saved. Haman had planned to hang Mordecai on gallows that he had built. It turned out that Haman was hanged on the very gallows he built.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Psalm 23:5 (KJV)
In the midst of trouble, God prepares a banquet table. He honors us in the very presence of our enemies. He blesses and promotes us while exposing and doing away with our enemies. God shows up and saves us from destruction. God uses our enemies to promote us. Never forget that the greater the enemy, the greater the promotion will be and the greater the defeat of the enemy will be!
