"Yet All This Availeth Me Nothing" - Lamenting the Blessings We Lack

In Esther 5, Haman bragged to his friends and family about how he had it all:

And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. - Esther 5:11

Truly, Haman was very richly blessed. "Yet all this availeth me nothing," he went on to say, "so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate [instead of standing to give him reverence]" (Esther 5:13).

I find it almost astonishing that Haman could have so many blessings and so much privilege and honor and still be upset about one man failing to respect him. With so many blessings as he had, why would he get hung up on one blessing that he didn't have?

Of course, this isn't really all that astonishing, since we do basically the same thing.

We all have many blessings. Granted, some have more than others, but still, we all have plenty to be thankful for. When the hymn encourages us to "Count Your Many Blessings," we could go about that process for a very long time. Yet, we are also acutely aware of our afflictions and of the blessings we lack.

Case in point, I keep a plastic comb in my pocket. I'm overdue for a haircut, and having a comb on hand is useful for keeping my hair under control. Yet, when I took my keys out of my pocket last night, my comb accidentally came out with them, landing somewhere between our driveway and our front porch. At some point in the evening, I noticed that my comb was missing, and I went out to look for it, only to find that our dog, who likes chewing on plastic objects, had found the comb before I did. There were several toothmarks on the comb. Some of the comb's teeth were missing, some were bent out of place. I was frustrated that my comb had been damaged by the dog.

But really, that's not a big deal, and I shouldn't make a big deal out of it, any more than Haman should have made a big deal about not being honored by Mordecai. I have other combs, and I don't really need to carry a comb on my person anyway. I have many other material and immaterial blessings that haven't been damaged or destroyed by dogs or anything else. Even without this one, cheap, plastic pocket comb, I have plenty of blessings to be grateful for. I shouldn't waste time mourning this one small blessing I've lost. 

Haman shouldn't have gotten all twisted up about one guy who didn't honor him, I shouldn't get myself all bent out of shape just because my comb was. Even without those blessings, we still have plenty of others. For our own sakes, we should spend more time praising God for the blessings we have rather than lamenting the blessings we lack.