Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, VAINLY PUFFED UP BY HIS FLESHLY MIND. 

Colossians 2:18, NKJV 

1. You are puffed up like Vashti when you no longer obey your husband! 

What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? 

Esther 1:15

Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, VAINLY PUFFED UP BY HIS FLESHLY MIND. 

Colossians 2:18, NKJV 

1. You are puffed up like Vashti when you no longer obey your husband! 

What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? 

Esther 1:15

Vashti is a well-known woman of pride. She was too big to obey her husband. As the scripture predicts, she fell from her high position of being the First Lady. Vashti was never heard of again. Is that what you want to happen to you? How do you know that you are a proud woman? We cannot say that you are humble because of what you say about yourself. But we can say that you are proud if your life follows the example of Vashti. Vashti did not obey her husband. Not obeying a husband is a sign that you are like Vashti and therefore it is a sign that you are proud.

I sent a missionary to a foreign country. When he married his wife, she was a nice, sweet, obedient little girl. Through the blessings of God, she gave birth to a number of children. Finally, when her womb was full she declared, “I will not go to the mission field any more. I have had enough. I am fed up. It is over.”

She told her husband, “I am not coming.

Then she told the mission director, “I will never go back to the mission field. I have had enough. My husband should follow me! I will not follow him any more!”

This young lady had now grown wings and had become too big and too resistant to obey her husband. She had enjoyed the married status for some time and was not so impressed! She had also given birth to the children that she wanted. Who was this young man to tell her what to do and where to live? She simply disobeyed her husband and went her own way.

This is a good example of pride. This young lady would not have behaved like this some years earlier. She would have pledged her obedience to the mission and to the ministry of her husband. Becoming puffed up is to experience a rapid swelling. Being puffed up is when a person quickly develops a state of pride.

2. You are puffed up like Vashti when you are hard, resistant and unyielding!

On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. BUT THE QUEEN VASHTI REFUSED TO COME AT THE KING’S COMMANDMENT by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.
Esther 1:10-12

Vashti was hard, stubborn and unyielding. All her advisers failed to persuade her. She had a strong opinion and no one could change her mind. The queen refused to come. Perhaps, when the king first chose her to be his queen she came running, willing to do anything and everything. But today, she could not be moved! Watch out for those hardened resistant women with the spirit of Vashti.

Your hardness, your stubbornness, your resistance and your refusal to bend are clear signs of pride. That is what makes you a modern day Vashti.

A proud person never says ‘Yes’ when ‘Yes’ is the right answer. A proud person never says ‘No’ when ‘No’ is the right answer. A woman who never bends, never yields, is never gracious, never flows and never agrees, is just another proud Vashti.

“How is it that you can never change your mind? What is the use of a mind if it cannot be changed? Indeed, you may say, “Who am I? I am nothing. I am a humble servant of God. I am the Lord’s handmaiden. I am an ant before the Lord.” But your stubbornness and resistance to change reveals that you are actually proud and puffed up. You say nice things about yourself. You declare humility. You proclaim your goodness and call yourself a daughter of destiny. But you are just like Vashti who could not be moved around by her husband.”

3. We know Vashti was puffed up because she fell from her position and was set aside.

All the evidence you need to confirm the fact that Vashti was proud is found in the fact that she was set aside. To be set aside, to be dismissed and to be replaced is a result of pride. Pride comes before a fall. Resistance, disobedience and stubbornness were the things that brought about the fall of Vashti. Are you hard? Are you stubborn? Do people say you are stubborn, hard and resistant? Do people find you to be someone who does not change her mind? Then that is not a compliment. That is a dangerous sign.

Watch out! You are likely to be replaced or exchanged for someone very soon. There is hardly any downward move that does not come from pride.

In my experience as an employer, I have found that those resistant to change almost always lose their position. I notice how stubborn people are replaced with softer, yielding and readyto- learn personalities.

In politics, it is when a government becomes proud and resistant to change that it ends up being replaced by a more humble and listening party. People who are not open to new ideas are often replaced by people who are willing to learn something new.

If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and LET THE KING GIVE HER ROYAL ESTATE UNTO ANOTHER THAT IS BETTER THAN SHE. And when the king’s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, (for it is great,) all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, both to great and small. And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did according to the word of Memucan: Esther 1:19-21

Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king: And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them: AND LET THE MAIDEN WHICH PLEASETH THE KING BE QUEEN INSTEAD OF VASHTI. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so. Esther 2:2-4

And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and MADE HER QUEEN INSTEAD OF VASHTI.  Esther 2:17