Esther 3:1 After these things did king Ahasueras promote Haman… and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.
Maybe you have noticed that it is a dog-eat-dog world. If you are going to get ahead, you have to step on other people. You have to build yourself up. You have to do whatever it takes to get ahead. That is the way most people think. But most people are wrong. Sometimes it does seem like those who are self-promoting, self-conceited, and self-absorbed are the ones that get ahead, and there is no doubt that scheming works in the short run.
Let me give you an example from the story of Esther. Esther was a Jewess who, with her people, had been captured by the Medo Persian Empire. Through a chain of events that were providential, she became the queen to the king of this mighty empire. The king did not know that she was Jewish, and the Bible tells us that her cousin, Mordecai, actually thwarted a plot by two of the king’s chamberlains to kill the king. The Bible ends that part of Esther’s story by saying, “And it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.” That is, it was duly noted that Mordecai the Jew, the cousin of Esther, had foiled this plot. It was written down in the book so it could be noted.
The next verse, Esther 3:1 says, “After these things did the king Ahasueras promote Haman.” The king advanced Haman. Later on, because Mordecai would not bow down before him, Haman decided that he would kill Mordecai and all of Mordecai’s people, the Jewish people.
How terrible that a man as good as Mordecai would save the king and then be forgotten, and the very next verse tells us how this unfit, ruffian named Haman had been promoted. But promotion is providential. When we speak of “providence,” we speak of God and what He does. “Providence” means God’s “provide-ance.” It literally has the idea of God’s looking ahead. It is His provision, His seeing ahead.
Who is looking ahead for you? Is it you or is it God? Scheming does work in the short run, but I want to tell you that mundane events are not. The things that happen every day, acts of character or lack of character, are things that are noted by God. When you come to the end of this story of Esther, the Bible tells us that Mordecai was a man of great honor and Haman was hung upon the gallows that he himself had built.
God will give arrogant people just enough rope with which to hang themselves and that is exactly what happened to Haman. He was hung on the very gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai because promotion comes from God.
You see this very concisely in Psalm 75:4-7, which says, “I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn: lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge.” It may be that your superior in whatever context you find yourself may totally overlook what you are doing, but God is judge. He is not fooled, blinded, or finite. God knows, sees, and hears everything. It is a comfort of soul to remember that regardless of what you see right now, promotion is providential.
The Bible tells us numerous times of how Esther herself obtained favor in the sight of both the courtiers and the king. That was of God. Favor is God-given, and promotion is the providence of God.