Have you ever known someone (maybe you were the someone) who outgrew reality and was attempting to make a power play? Maybe it was in their workplace, their family, a ministry, or some other venue. And like a car wreck in slow motion others can see it happening but are helpless to do anything to stop it.
I've watched this happen a time or two. In fact I was part of the wreck once upon a time. I got tangled up in someone's grab for power. It wasn't fun.
I've been thinking a lot about this recently and I was reminded of someone who made a grab for power, tangled several people up in it, and it ended predictably. In a wreck. It always ends in predictable ways, always.
Quite a few years ago there was this dude named Haman. He was a cocky and arrogant man who outgrew reality. His boss, King Xerxes, was on the hunt for a new piece of arm candy and he finally picked one. This girl was beautiful. She was the talk of the town. She was also Jewish but nobody knew because her Uncle, Mordecai, had asked her to keep it quiet. During Esther's crowning as the new Queen, Haman thought it would be great to require people to bow down to him in honor. His boss had suggested it but as the story continues one gets the idea that perhaps it wasn't his idea but Haman's. Mordecai refused and Haman was offended. He found out that Mordecai was Jewish so he hatched a plan. He decided it was time for a little ethnic cleansing and he made a grab for power. He plotted and schemed to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the map. He didn't know his new Queen was one of those people he wanted to get rid of. Oops. He approached his boss with an idea that was genocide but Xerxes wasn't smart enough to figure that out so he okayed it. Haman was strutting around like a rooster in heat. Since his boss thought that idea was good he forgot that he wasn't the boss and started making decisions and decrees without clearing them by Xerxes first. Oops. Mordecai caught wind of the plan to kill off the Jews, asked Esther - his niece and the Queen - to do something about it and she hatched her own plan. Esther saw Haman for who he was, a power hungry arrogant racist. By the time she executed her plan things were already starting to unravel for power hungry Haman. So he turned from trying to grab power to keeping a death grip on the job he had. You know the death grip I'm talking about? That one where you are gripping on to something so tightly that your knuckles turn white and you choke the proverbial life out of it. That kind of death grip. When all was said and done, Haman's power grab had turned into a death grip which turned into literal death for him.
It doesn't always end in literal death but it always ends in some kind of death; career, relationships, spiritual, mental, etc. Power grabs and death grips turn something that could be beneficial and unifying into divisive and toxic. Power grabs always turn into death grips and death grips always mark the end for that person. It usually takes longer than anyone else likes but the end is always near at the point a death grip has been established. When it turns from a grab to a grip the spoils begin to stack up and smell. It's like way back in the day when the nation of Israel was making laps in the desert and God provided manna for them each day. It was fresh for that day only. If you tried to keep some of it for the next day you would wake up to rotting manna which I understand was rather unpleasant. This is kind of what happens when the grip takes over. Things start spoiling and smelling, it gets foul real quick. And innocent people get tangled up and have to feel the brunt of the consequences along with the power hungry jerk. It's no fun.
So what can be done about those who are grabbing and gripping? Esther and her Uncle Mordecai provide a great example for us to follow; wisely approach those with true authority to plead the case, interact with the power monger in a "wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove" manner, and remain humble yourself so you don't turn into the next power hungry jerk. See, we all have the capability to be one - some of us the tendency is a bit more obvious, but others of us fall into it without even realizing it, until it is too late that is.
I've been thinking about this recently because I happen to be watching it happen in that slow motion, feeling helpless to stop it with someone. It's painful, more so for the innocent people who are being run over by the power monger but also for that person because they don't know the damage they are causing...yet. When Haman figured out the damage he had caused it was too late, that's true of every situation where grabbing and gripping happens. The perpetrator can't recover from it in time to save the damage done. It's so painful. My heart literally aches and hurts watching people get run over, arrogance stinking up the hallways, damage happening in ways we can't even see yet but will in time. Simply put, it's not okay.
So if you are the grabber watch out because you are going to be gripping soon and that marks an end. Get help now, before it is too late. (Nope, not just being dramatic here.) If you are an innocent bystander watching grabbing and gripping happening in slow motion and feeling helpless then take heart. Gather your courage and go appeal to others, sometimes the accident is avoided. We can work together to avoid the predictable outcome of power grabbing and death gripping. Together we can take the power back, if necessary, and put it in its place where it belongs.
Simply put, don't be a grabber and a gripper. It is so unattractive!
Here's some resources I found to be very helpful:
12 Signs of Power Hungry Pastors (But really it's not just signs for Pastors, these are signs for anyone who is power hungry - this article is spot on.)
How to Manage Power-Mongering Co-Workers (excellent article, spot on)
Power in the right and wrong hands (well thought out article)
Are you power hungry? (We need to be honest with ourselves)
Why Power Hungry Bosses Are Weaker Than You Think (and than they think too!)
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