Humility

God seems to take me through seasons where a certain theme keeps being repeated. Recently, I’ve been hearing a repeated theme that He highlighted years ago and now seems to be highlighting in a new way. That is the topic of humility.

As I was reading through scriptures related to humility, today’s verse leapt off the page and into my spirit with the realization that our humility clears the path for God to work.  I had to spend some time meditating on that thought. But the more I pondered, the more I saw it. The opposite of humility is pride.

When we are full of pride, we think we can do things ourselves. When we are busy doing things ourselves, we do not ask God to do the things that only He can do. Because He has given us free will, He will let us keep trying in our own strength until we realize that we cannot do it without Him.

So, our pride gets in the way of allowing God space to work in our lives. On the other hand, when we humble ourselves, we acknowledge that we cannot do things in our own strength. We look to the Lord and say, “God, this is too big for me. I need your help!” And with this humility, we get out of the way and allow God to do what He has been waiting to do for us.

I’m reminded of when our children were little and learning to tie their shoes. I would watch them struggling and want to help them, but they would say, “No! I do it!” It was only after they struggled for a while, and frequently to the point of tears, that they finally allowed me to show them again how to tie their shoes.

Let’s not be like that! Let’s grow in maturity to recognize quickly when we are trying to do something that God wants to show us how to do, and let’s humble ourselves and ask for His help before we break down in tears from the failure of our own attempts!