Esther 5:9 “Then Haman went out that day glad and pleased of heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate and that he did not stand up or tremble before him, Haman was filled with anger against Mordecai.” NAS
I have never tallied the number of texts I send and receive in a day’s time, but fear the result would be astounding. Texting is a primary means of communicating today. We use it for greeting, meeting, asking-out, breaking-up, checking-in, updating, and everything in-between.
Discoveries about oneself are not always welcome, and recently while texting, I experienced one such ah-ha moment: I am very moody! In one single text, I used a smiley face followed by clapping hands, then switched in the next sentence to angry eyes and frowny face, and concluded my text with multiple hearts and prayer-hands. Granted, it was a long, involved text, but talk about mood swings!
If misery loves company, (and truly it does!) the champion of mood swings has to be Haman in the book of Esther. Haman stood on the pinnacle of happiness with an invitation to the King’s private party. However, within the very same verse of scripture and with merely a shift in his focus, Haman’s mood plummeted to the lowest valley as he realized Mordecai failed to honor him. Haman’s happiness vanished because he needed it all: honor from the King and honor from everyone else.
If Haman could have texted his wife in that very moment, it would have begun with numerous smiley-faces and hand clap emojis, followed by crowns, followed by food and wine emojis, and a big thumbs-up. But before pushing “send,” Haman would have switched to emojis of angry eyes, heads shooting out steam, and lightning bolts!
Oh, how quickly our outlook changes when circumstances fail to go our way. No wonder we have more than 3000 emojis available for us to use.
Haman’s happiness was dependent upon circumstances always going his way. But happiness cannot be sustained upon such temporary fragments of life for it is superficial and can instantly vanish, allowing other, more undesirable emotions to surface.
Only by living a life in Christ can we discover deep-down, sustainable joy. Christ is the answer to a life lived with smiley faces and hand claps! When fear of the future steals our happiness, Christ’s peace sustains our joy. When trials and difficulties rob our glee, Christ’s strength preserves our joy. When life turns against us, Christ’s promises of protection defend our joy.
Living a life in Christ could eliminate our need for many of the unpleasant emojis. Yes, happiness will come and go, but the steadfast love of the Lord never fails. And that, dear sisters, is pure joy. 😊
Father God, we praise you for the joy you offer us through all the emotions of life.
Blessings,
Rita Cochrane