Built to Collapse: The Irony of Pride

In 1940, engineers in Washington State unveiled what they said would be a monument to human achievement. the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. It was breathtaking. Nearly a mile of steel and cable suspended over a deep, windy channel of water called Puget Sound, just outside Seattle. It was so elegant and graceful that locals called it "Galloping Gertie" because of the way it swayed gently in the breeze.

Everyone who saw it marveled. Photographers came to capture it. Newspapers celebrated it as a triumph of modern engineering. The engineers themselves walked across it with pride . This was their legacy. This proved their brilliance. And the world was watching as the bridge performed beautifully.

And it did…!!! For four months at least… Until November 7, when the wind came. It wasn’t a hurricane, it wasn’t even a storm. Just a moderate ordinary wind, that you'd barely notice on the ground.

The bridge began to twist - slowly at first, but then violently. The engineers rushed to the site but it was too late. They stood on the shore, watching their masterpiece tear itself apart as it collapsed into the water.

And why? Because of misplaced confidence and trust. See, the engineers had built the bridge with solid sides - like a wall. instead of an open design that would let the wind pass through. So instead of flowing through harmlessly, the wind caught against the solid sides like a sail, creating a force the bridge couldn’t handle.

They had designed it to hold weight. But they never imagined that something as small as wind, something that should have just passed through, would be the thing that destroyed it.

From a distance, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge looked strong and brilliant, but the truth was, it was built to collapse. All it took was a little pressure from the right direction to expose the flaws.

And here’s the thing: Pride works the same way. In Esther 7, Haman looks secure at the king's table, but a single conversation exposes that his whole life has been resting on the wrong foundation. and if we want to avoid his fate, we must learn from his mistakes

To avoid pride's collapse we must:

1. Build with humility (vv. 1-6a)
2. Beware false security (vv. 6b-8)
3. Believe God reverses evil (vv. 9-10)

1. Build with humility (vv. 1-6a)

Last week we saw a humiliated Haman being ushered off to his final meal. Because what happened was: He had built a seventy-five-foot pole and the following morning he planned to ask the king's permission to execute Mordecai on it. But that same night, by some strange coincidence, the king couldn't sleep. And in his sleeplessness, the king discovered that Mordecai had once saved his life but was never rewarded. So when Haman arrived at the palace the next morning, hoping to request Mordecai's execution, the king asked him: "What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?"

So Haman, the man who hated Mordecai, had to parade him through the streets dressed in royal robes, mounted on the king's horse, proclaiming, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor."

Humiliated Haman then rushed home with his head covered in shame, where his wife and advisors told him bluntly: "If Mordecai is Jewish, you will not overcome him. You will surely fall."

And before Haman could even process that warning, the king's eunuchs arrived to escort him to Queen Esther's second banquet. So verse 1 opens with Haman walking into what he doesn't yet know will be his final meal.

So then in verse 1, the king and Haman are sitting with Esther at this second private feast, and then for the third time King Xerxes asks her, “What is your petition, Queen Esther, and what is your request - up to half of my kingdom and it shall be fulfilled.”

The past two times Esther delayed her answer, But now she springs the trap she’s been cleverly planning.

³ Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. ⁴ For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.”

Esther 7:3-4 ESV

Notice how carefully Esther crafts her words. She begins with humility: "If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king." This is not the language of someone making demands. This is the language of someone who knows she's dependent on the king's mercy.

And then she makes her request: "Let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request." Do you see what she's done? She's made this personal before she's made it political. She doesn’t lay into him saying: “"you have signed a terrible, unjust decree." She's starting with "My life… the one you favor… is in danger." The king loves Esther. He's been pursuing this question for days now. He said 3 times that wants to give her what she asks. And now she's telling him that what she needs is her life. And that gets his attention.

But her cleverness continues. Using the exact same language of Haman’s decree, Esther says: “We have been sold, I and my people to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated.” And right here, you have to picture’s Haman’s face… Because back in chapter 3, Haman tricked the king into signing this decree to exterminate the Jews, Up until this moment, the king had no idea Esther was Jewish. And neither did Haman.

But here she’s letting everyone know she is Jewish. She’s identifying with God’s covenant people publically for the first time. Which is an incredibly brave thing for her to do.

And in her brilliant response, she doesn’t just make it about her and her people, she makes it about the king. She says: “Your Majesty, if this were just about slavery, I wouldn't bother you.” “But this is about total annihilation.” “This is about the destruction of your queen and her people. And that is a loss you cannot afford." Do you see what she’s doing? She’s giving the softest answer she can to avoid the king’s wrath. Because even though the king is the one who is ultimately responsible, she’s putting it on Haman, not him.

And to be fair, most of this should go on Haman. He’s the one who planned hatched this entire plot simply because he felt disrespected. He is the one who got the king to sign the decree without even mentioning who it was for. But now, it’s all unraveling in his face.

Then, in verse 5, the King is enraged and he asked her: “Who is he, and where is he, who had dared to do this?” And at this point, Esther could have said, “look in the mirror buddy.” But she wisely doesn’t! She says: “A foe and enemy! This wicked haman!”

Esther’s approach here is textbook brilliance. It’s almost like she understands the book of Proverbs REALLY, REALLY well. For example:

¹ A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:1 ESV

And

¹⁵ With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.

Proverbs 25:15 ESV

Doesn’t that sound like Queen Esther here? Absolutely it does. But the bigger question is, does this sound like you and I? When injustice happens against us, are we trying to win the argument or win the person? Because there absolutely is a difference!

Do you realize there is a deeper right than being right? Esther did. And it saved her and her people’s lives. And yet, how often do we resort to “telling em how it is” or “giving them a piece of our mind.” Absolutely foolish.

Instead, we need to recognize that our job isn’t just to speak the truth, but to speak it in love. And I’m not talking about sugar coating things to the point where the truth can’t be tasted, I’m simply talking about not putting BITTER SPRAY all over the medicine we are trying to give them. Do you do that? When your spouse frustrates you. When your children continue to disobey. Or when that really difficult person at work or church is being more difficult than usual?

Because when it comes to that, you have 2 options. You be loving, or unloving. And, when it comes to being unloving, you have 2 ways you can do that option. The first is by saying nothing. Esther could have done that. She could have sat by in the comforts of the palace and watched her people die, thinking: “That’s not my problem - that’s God’s problem.” And yet, how many of us do that when we should speak up: out of fear, cowardice, or pure indifference?

The second unloving way we already talked about, and it’s being a jerk for Jesus. It’s blasting everything that moves with your self-righteous guns of glory thinking you’re helping when you’re not.

But both of these ways are not loving. Instead, true loves speaks, but it speaks in love as Paul commands in Ephesians 4.

¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

Ephesians 4:15 ESV

Do you know Esther reminds me of here? She reminds me of Nathan the prophet.

See, after King David committed adultery with Uriah’s wife Bathsheba, and then had him killed Nathan confronts David by telling him a story about a rich man with many sheep who steals and slaughters the one precious lamb of a poor man. And when David is angry and ready to kill the guy, he asks who it was, and Nathan replies: “You are the man.”

See, Nathan didn’t come in guns a blazing. He came in carefully, cautiously, tactfully. Just like Queen Esther. And it won the king’s heart.

So before you make that post on social media. Before you send that text or email. Or before you unload on that person Stop and think…… Is this truth with love, or just truth. Because if it’s just truth, it’s not love. AND, if it’s not love; it’s Haman-like pride, not Esther-like humility.

And if you live your life with Haman-like pride, you'll fall into the same trap Haman did: thinking you're secure when you're not. And the danger there is, as Proverbs tells us: “Pride goes before the fall.”

To avoid pride's collapse we must:

2. Beware false security (vv. 6b-8)

In response to Queen Esther’s brilliant unveiling of the situation, the text tells us that Haman was terrified before the King and Queen. And at this point, the rich irony is dripping off the pages. Because within about a day’s time, Haman goes from being on top - the second in command in all of Persia, To the very bottom. Just moments ago, he sat at the table thinking he was secure. But now, he was forced to sit there watching as everything collapsed, As something as small as a short conversation blew through everything he had worked so hard to build.

Are you picking up on the deceptive nature of pride? You can literally be on its path, thinking you’re on top of the world, only to find the world caving in on top of you moments later! That’s how sneaky pride is. It hides behind wealth, status, power, and beauty, But it all collapses under the weight of a gentle breeze…

Pride leads to a false security. It makes you deaf to warnings. Haman's own wife told him: "If Mordecai is Jewish, you will not overcome him. You will surely fall." She saw it. His advisors saw it. But Haman couldn't see it. Why?

Because pride blinds you to danger. It convinces you that you're the exception. That the rules don't apply to you. That you'll be fine because you've always been fine. And so you ignore the red flags. You dismiss the warnings. You keep building on sand, thinking it's bedrock. Until the moment when everything collapses and you realize it's too late.

As a pastor, I do a lot of counseling, And it’s usually for marriages, for general life difficulties, or for family struggles. But do you want to know something interesting. I’ve NEVER once had someone come to me and say: “Zach, I think I could use some counsel for my pride.” Not once has that happened! And that’s not because we have a church full of people who never struggle with pride, it’s because pride is THAT deceptive!

But if it’s that deceptive - and it is, Then how on earth can we deal with it? I’ll tell you how, You have to trace it to your false securities.

Here’s what I mean: What would have to collapse for you to feel like your life is over? Is it your job? Is it your health or looks? Is it your reputation, that relationship, or your bank account? Because whatever that is, That’s where your pride is hiding. That is why we have to beware false security. Because pride hides in what we are most afraid of losing.

Now look, the problem isn't that those things are bad, it’s the pride we place on them that make them bad. Jobs, relationships, health, financial stability are all good gifts from God. But when we make good things ultimate things over God, they become a monument to our pride. And all monuments to pride will give you a false security, because they all inevitably collapse. Just like Haman’s did in a matter of a few hours.

In verse 7, King Xerxes storms furiously out of the room out into the palace garden. Why? Because he has a major problem. See, the decree he signed can’t be revoked. You remember how that worked for Daniel with the Lion’s Den. After the Persian King Darius was tricked into signing Daniel’s death warrant, he stayed up all night trying to find a loophole to avoid having to throw Daniel into the Lion’s Den. But no loophole could be found. So into the den Daniel went.

Similarly here, as Haman recognizes, King Xerxes was determined to cause Haman harm. But he needed a reason. But while he is out in the courtyard, Haman then begins to plead before Queen Esther to beg for his life. And as he does, Verse 8 tells us, the King returns at the exact moment Haman accidentally falls onto the couch near Queen Esther, and he’s done for.

See, in Persia, there were strict rules about how you could approach the queen. You couldn't be alone with her and you certainly couldn't touch her. But here's Haman, in his desperation, falling at Esther's feet, begging for his life. And the king walks in at exactly that moment.

Seeing this, the king says: "Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?" And the second those words leave his mouth, the guards cover Haman’s face. No jury. No cross-examination. No chance to explain that he simply slipped in panic.

That is how quickly false security can break. Haman thinks getting close to Esther will save him. But in reality, the very move he thinks will save his life becomes the final piece of evidence that condemns him.

Do you see the cruel pattern of pride? Pride does not only blind you on the way up. It keeps lying to you on the way down to destruction.

¹ Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed - without remedy.

Proverbs 29:1 NIV

¹⁸ Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. ¹⁹ How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!

Psalm 73:18-19 ESV

In the Bible, over and over it warns us of the boomerang effect of pride. What starts out soaring always comes back to clock us in the head. Look at Haman… Haman demanded honor but ended up publicly humiliated, forced to honor the man he hated most. Haman was angry because Mordecai the Jew refused to bow to him but ended up bowing before the Jewish Queen Esther. Haman manipulated the king with deception but was condemned because the king misrepresented his actions. Haman bragged about being invited to the queen's private banquet but it was actually an invitation to his own exposure and death. Haman built seventy-five-foot gallows for Mordecai but they became the instrument of his own execution.

The point is, every evil Haman planned for others came back on his own head. And whether in this life or the next, make no mistake - it will happen, because our God reverses evil on itself.

To avoid pride's collapse we must:

3. Believe God reverses evil (vv. 9-10)

In verse 9, one of the King’s eunuchs named Harbona says something that seals Haman’s fate.

⁹ Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” ¹⁰ So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated.

Esther 7:9-10 ESV

Do you see the irony piled up in that sentence? Harbona reminds the king that Haman built a seventy five foot monument in his yard to kill the man “whose word saved the king.”

And with that, the king has his reason. And the reason is treason. And so he orders that Haman be impaled upon the pole that was made for Mordecai. And with that, the enemies of the Jews is killed, which sets up their salvation in the chapters that come.

And why? Because Esther just happened to win the “Beauty Contest.” No. Because Mordecai just happened to overhear a plot to kill the king was they forgot to reward him? No. Because Esther stepped forward to bravely address the king about the death decree? No. Because the King just happened to have insomnia the night Haman decided to seek Mordecai’s death? No. Or was it because the king just happened to come back into the room the exact moment Haman slipped on the couch near Esther? No.

While all of those played an important part in the story, The reason that Haman was hanged and the Jews were saved was because Israel’s God is a covenant-keeping God.

In Exodus 17, after God powerfully delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt, The Amalekites attacked God's people in the wilderness. God made a promise: "The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." But in the end, He would “blot them out of memory.”

And he did this, because of the covenant promise He made to Abraham in Genesis 12, saying:

³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 12:3 ESV

God doesn't make empty promises. When He says "I will curse those who curse you," He means it. And here in Esther 7, we're watching that promise play out. Haman the Agagite cursed God's people. He plotted their annihilation. And God, in His sovereignty and sweet providence reversed it all.

Does this explain why the Bible commands us OVER and OVER again to NOT FEAR? It’s because our God is completely sovereign, and NOTHING happens apart from His hand.

Look at this story again. King Xerxes thinks he's in control. He's issuing decrees, making decisions, executing judgment. But the whole time, there's another King working behind the scenes. A King Xerxes doesn't even know about. A King whose name never appears in this book. But whose fingerprints are over every page!

Who put Esther in the palace? God did. Who kept the king awake that night? God did. Who brought Haman to the courtyard at that exact moment? God did. For He was directing every step.

And church, that same sovereign King is working in your life right now. But there is a key difference: We serve a King utterly different from Xerxes. Our King doesn't need to be manipulated to do what's right. He is righteous and cannot do anything other than what is right. We have a King who doesn't invent false charges against us. Instead, He took the charges we deserved and laid them on His own Son, as Christ was hung on a tree, bearing our curse all the way to death.

In this passage, Haman was identified as "the enemy of the Jews," and that's why he died. But Esther was identified as one of God's people, and that's why she lived. And the point is: our identity determines our destiny. For as the Apostle Paul tells, if our identity is in Adam, we die. But if our identity is in Christ, we are made alive. That means our destiny is bound up in His. Which is why no scheme or plan against us can ultimately succeed.

God loved you and gave His Son while you were still a sinner. Will He abandon you now that you're justified by Christ's blood? No He won’t! For we serve a King who reverses evil. Who turns the gallows into glory. Who turns a cross into resurrection. And Who turns death into life.

Xerxes pronounced judgment on Haman. But it was God's verdict that sealed his fate. And the only verdict that ultimately matters is Heaven's verdict over you.

If you are in Christ, God's verdict is: “Not guilty.” Not because you're innocent, but because Christ took your place. The judgment you deserved fell on Him. And now He stands as both your Judge and your Savior. The same King who has authority to condemn you is the same King who died to save you. The same King who sees every sin is the same King who covers every sin of those who trust Him with His blood.

Those engineers built something that looked brilliant but was designed to collapse. And so too do we if we build our life on a foundation other than Christ. So TRUST Him. Place your hope in Him! Believe that God reverses evil and make Him your foundation. Because on the cross, He reversed the greatest evil of all. And if you are in Christ, His victory is yours.

Remember this, as we go to the table.

This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.