Day 27
Week
4 Obey and Submit
Humility
As you work, abide in Christ. Let a living
faith in Christ working in you be the secret spring of all your work; this will
inspire at once humility and courage.
Andrew Murray, Abide
in Christ[i]
~~~
|
I
|
wept when I released
my plan for weight loss to the Lord. The emotion I felt was unfamiliar to
me. It was part sadness because I had liked my pretty plan, my detailed blueprint
for health and well-being. I felt chagrin because I'd tried so hard and
once again had missed the mark. And, there was a hefty dose of that
feeling you see on the faces of those TV chefs who are critiqued by a panel of
judges. I suffered a helpless desire to make a case and justify myself, helpless
because it is even more futile to argue with the Almighty God than it is to
contradict a human judge.
Oddly, the emotion wasn't entirely
unpleasant, because the release of my detailed objectives brought relief. My
plan would have entailed a lot of work. Obedience was easier than creating
a workable plan and implementing it all in my own power. Sitting at my computer
first thing each morning, my goals had always seemed do-able. But I had
not once followed my own rules with 100% success throughout the very real
difficulties of my very real days.
I’m embarrassed that humility is
the name of the unfamiliar emotion I felt when I finally submitted my will to
God, chagrined that it was such a novel sensation for me that I at first could
not put a name to it. I had prayed for years to be freed of pride and knew the
Lord had answered those prayers, but I didn’t know that it is possible for us
as Christians to be free of pride and yet lack humility. I had not asked God
for the gift of humility, probably because I was frightened of the possibility
of humiliation. This fear reveals a lack of trust, and humility before God
can’t come ahead of trust in Him. If we don't trust the one to whom we defer,
it isn't safe to say, "Thy will and not mine be done."
Humility is necessary if we are to
accept God’s guidance and obey him wholeheartedly. It is a key component
in the ability to steadfastly abide in the Lord throughout our days so we can
walk according to the dictates of the Spirit rather than of the
flesh.
Pray: I affirm that I trust You,
Lord, because just the little I can see of You this side of Heaven assures me
that You are powerfully in control, perfectly loving, and trustworthy. I
know that You are sovereign over the past, the present, and the future. I place
my trust in You. I bow before You. You are my Lord and my God. I ask for
humility now, the humility to stop overruling You in the decisions I make
throughout my days.
Lord please deliver us from evil,
keep us sheltered while we are here in this world, and see us safely to our
Heavenly home. In Jesus' name, amen.
~~~
Trust in the Lord
with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
No comments:
Post a Comment