The Benefits of Waiting

The following is a classic Old Testament story about the benefits of waiting for God to bless and promote you. This posture is antithetical to today’s grab all you can while you can attitude. However, seeing a man like Mordecai and how God promoted him is refreshing.

Mordecai, found in Esther’s intriguing story, is a man worth imitating. Mordecai had an enemy who hated him. This rival was Haman, a powerful official in King Xerxes’ kingdom who hated Jews.  Through deception, he devised a plan to kill Mordecai and the entire Jewish population. He was so sure of his plans that he prepared 75 feet gallows to hang Mordecai on. However, there was one detail that Haman overlooked—Mordecai’s God.

Just as Haman was gaining the power to eliminate Mordecai, God intervened in his sovereign way. The King could not sleep, so he called for the record books to be read to him. He discovered that Mordecai had saved the King’s life by uncovering a plot to kill him. The King demanded that something be done to honor Mordecai. The King asked, “Who is in the court?” Haman had just entered. The King’s attendants answered, “Haman is standing in the court.” “Bring him in,” the King ordered. When Haman entered, the King asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?” (Esther 6:4-6)

Haman is so arrogant that he believes that the King is preparing to honor him, so he gives him a great list: “For the man, the King delights to honor, have them bring a royal robe the King has worn and a horse the King has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the King’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the King delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!’” (Esther 6:7-9). Then the King announced I want you to honor Mordecai.

Haman was humiliated as he led Mordecai through the streets and proclaimed, “This is Mordecai, the man the King desires to honor.” This would have been a heady moment for most, but not for Mordecai because he was committed to living for God. The next verse is an eloquent testimony to the life of Mordecai: “Afterward Mordecai returned to the king’s gate.  But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief.” (Esther 6:12).  Mordecai had long trusted his life to God.  If God wanted to promote him, then the promotion would find him. He would carry out his duties in faithfulness to God. I pray that God will give us more men and women like Mordecai who are interested in serving God, not self-promotion.