Leadership Thought: Beware of Pride's Blindness-Just Look at Haman.

Dear Friends,

I don’t know who wrote it, but it was good advice, “Beware of digging a pit for the enemy; you may fall into it yourself.” The character Haman in the book of Esther would never have hung on the gallows had he heeded these words of wisdom (see Esther Ch. 7).

Haman was one of the most evil and despicable men who ever walked this planet. This master manipulator was a classic personification of evil. His jealous hatred of a Jew named Mordecai, led him to engineer a plot that would send Mordecai to his death on the gallows. But in an Alfred Hitchcock like twist of fate filled providence, he himself is the one who is hung, leaving Mordecai to enjoy the power, privilege, and prestige that Haman so desperately coveted.

Proverbs reminds us that “The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the unfaithful are trapped by evil desires.” What a fitting epitaph for Haman’s headstone.

Haman’s’ pride destroyed him, just as it will destroy everyone who lives to exalt himself at another’s expense. It has been said that, “the proud man has a mirror in which he sees himself. A humble man, a window through which he sees others.” 

Paul writes, “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another” (Romans 12:10).

I love the  words of Francois Fenelon, a Roman Catholic archbishop who lived in the early 1700’s. He writes, “Humility is the source of true greatness; pride is ever impatient, ready to be offended. He who thinks nothing is due to him, never thinks himself ill-treated.”

If we all followed the wisdom of this wise old cleric, how much better our world would be. 

Have a wonderful day and don’t forget these wise words:  “an enemy is a costly thing, a luxury that is too expensive to maintain.” With the Word, Warren Wiersbe, p. 276.

Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom