The god of Self

The god of Self
Words of Faith 6-4-2021
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2008, 2021
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Esther 3
         [1] After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. [2] All the royal officials at the king's gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.
    [3] Then the royal officials at the king's gate asked Mordecai, "Why do you disobey the king's command?" [4] Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai's behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew.
    [5] When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. [6] Yet having learned who Mordecai's people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead, Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai's people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.

        The stage was now set for a terrible drama to unfold.   Esther as the Queen was greatly trusted by Xerxes and Mordecai was a silent partner to Esther.  A guy named Haman came into the story, seemingly out of nowhere.  Haman was especially significant because he was a descendent of the Amalekite King Agag, an ancient enemy of the Jewish people who battled with Saul.  Strangely, Haman was appointed to a post that Mordecai should have received.  
        When Mordecai refused to kneel before Haman, Haman decided to kill all the Jews.  Which raises a rather perennial question:  How does anyone ever get the idea to kill another group of people?  Where do such things as an "ethnic cleansing" or a "final solution" come from?  From whence do such dark and treacherous thoughts come?  
         Some would be quick to suggest that this particular holocaust was, at least in part, the fault of Mordecai!  Wasn't Mordecai simply jealous that Haman was named to a post that he felt he deserved for having saved Xerxes?  And if he had not been so jealous and prideful none of this would have happened?  
         But such an explanation leads us down a dangerous road.  It is the old "blame the victim" routine.  "They brought it on themselves..." some would say.   "If they had not been so clannish...  If they had not been so different...  If they only had tried to get along..."   Wrong. Wrong.  Wrong.  
         We know that there is never a reason that justifies the hate or persecution or genocide of a group of people!  And the group victimized can never be blamed for something so very wrong.  When darkness invades with pogroms and death camps we must look deep into the human heart to find an answer.
         So what is the real reason for such atrocity?  Is the source human or demonic?   The truth is that something terribly demonic may very well invade humans but only when the door has been opened to that darkness by very base behaviors.   The door opens a crack when people begin to fear those who are different from themselves.  The demonic gains that foothold.  Then the door is eased open as people begin to talk about a group rather than talking to individuals.  Then the door is flung open wide when people begin to try and control others.  Soon they are immersed in hate.  And when they cannot control those they have chosen to hate, they invite in the demon who says-- "The only solution is not to have any of those people anymore."   Suddenly we wonder how we got to the brink of such madness.  It was no different in the fifth century BC than it is in the twenty-first century AD.
         But that is not all.   Scholars link the name Haman and Hammedatha to the Elamite god named "Human" or "Humban."  Hmmmm.  We don't want to press that too far but how strange it is to see that Haman is linked to a god named "Human" especially since the predominant idolatry of our day is the worship of self and the power of "humans."  
         It is not pressing things too far to see that Haman certainly worshiped the god of Self.  Is it possible that when a culture turns to the god "Human", the door is opened to the kind of darkness that leads to ethnic cleansing or a final solution?   It is really nothing new.   Worship of the god Human is the essence of the Fall when Eve and Adam desired to know for themselves the knowledge of good and evil and they took control.
            So what is the answer for us or for any culture?  Surrender to the one true God.  Surrender to the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus.  Surrender to the Lord God of Israel revealed perfectly in His Son Jesus.  Abandon worship of the god "Human." Abandon the worship of Self and turn to Him.

             Lord, I surrender to You. Help me today to be light in the darkness.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2008, 2021
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)        
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.