Thou shalt not prevail against him

Esther 6:13b

If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.

The story of Esther is an amazing and miraculous story. It is the story of a man who devised an evil plot to destroy God’s people, but then the Lord turned it all around on the man’s own head, and saved His people from certain and utter destruction. What a story of deliverance this is! What evidence of God’s hand! This is one of the books of the Bible that does not list God’s name specifically, but shows His hand clearly in even greater ways than the others. Here, Mordecai hears of the plot against his people, and alerts queen Esther. Esther went in to the king uninvited, knowing that she could die for that. But God gave her favor in the eyes of the king, who held out the golden scepter to her. She then invited the king and Haman to her banquet which she had prepared for them.

Now Haman, the enemy of the Jews, is elated that he had been exclusively invited to this banquet, and, in the meantime, constructs gallows upon which he hopes to hang Mordecai, the man he hated, and who never knelt or did him reverence. But before he could come to the second banquet prepared by Esther, things began to change. He came into the king’s court to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai, and just then, unbeknownst to him, the king was wondering how he could honor Mordecai for the deeds he had done in saving the king’s life from those who planned to rise up against him. So the king, trusting Haman and having promoted him to a high office, called him in and asked how the king could honor someone that deserves recognition and praise. Haman, thinking that man was most certainly himself, fabricated the most pompous and glorious way to elevate someone to honor. Well, the king said, “Do so to Mordecai!” What chagrin must have immediately filled the heart of Haman! What agony! What humiliation! What disappointment! The man who thought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people was now about to promote him to the highest honor possible! What a turn of events! And when he told his wife and friends of his predicament, they at once discerned that he would not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.

And is not this what God does to the evil forces of the devil? Is this not what happened at the cross, when the devil thought he had won and had his way? What a glorious turn around! And how Christ conquered the devil and how he destroyed the plans of the enemy! And how He will one day bruise Satan under our feet! He will defeat the enemy utterly and completely! And oh, my friend, are you concerned today that the devil is having his way? In a loved one’s life? In your mind? In your emotions? Are you concerned that things shall only get worse and never better? This is the desire of the enemy—to have you defeated and dejected, hopeless and without joy. But this is not the plan of God. God’s plan is never that the devil will have victory! God’s plan is never that Satan rule in the end. Keep looking to the Lord! Keep praying! Look up! Redemption draweth nigh! Do not ever yield or surrender to the wicked, evil, wretched, abominable enemy of our souls. Look to our Savior, the King of glory! He shall triumph! And He is always greater than the enemy. Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world! Greater! The enemy shall not prevail! Encourage yourself with this truth today!

“Father, we just thank and praise You that You are the triumphant and glorious King of glory. We praise You that the devil cannot prevail. He temporally may have jurisdiction of the world’s system, but You will soon crush him forever. May we wait on Thee, and never yield to the devil’s tactics of discouragement or his devices of defeat. We are more than conquerers through Him that loved us! We shall rule and reign! We praise Your name! May those that we love turn to You and yield to You in the hardest moments of their lives so that the devil will not have his way. We yield to You, our King! We shall triumph through You! And we praise You for these things. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”