Principle: Darkness always resists the light; expect resistance, but persevere.

In Esther 5, we see what perhaps all people have encountered–spiritual resistance. Here was the context. Haman, the main antagonist in the book of Esther, has plotted a Jewish holocaust. Mordecai, a faithful believer in the one true God, exiled to Persia, is both courageous and faithful. He resolves to trust the Lord, and he bolsters his cousin Esther’s faith in God, too. She, too, is a Jewish exile under Ahasuerus’s pagan rule. Mordecai’s famous words to Esther are, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

When Haman thinks he is to be honored by the king and the queen for being the man of the hour, Haman, a hater of Jews and of God, despises Mordecai. Why? Because Mordecai understands who Haman is, how wicked he is, and Mordecai does not fear Haman. Mordecai trusts the Lord.

If that is not clear enough, here is the way the text reads: “But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he [Mordecai] neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai” (Esther 5:9b).

Here’s the principle again: Expect resistance when you’re doing the right thing. Darkness hates the light. But persevere in righteousness and witness God work.