Got humility?

Why is it so important to be humble? If you read through Scripture, you’ll see it everywhere. Be humble. Be humble. Be humble. And whenever God says something once, it usually means it’s important. If he says it twice, it means we need to stop and read the words again because repetition is tantamount to screaming. But three times or more? If God thinks something is so important in our lives that He needs to tell us about it over and over again, that means it’s essential. It’s beyond essential. We can’t live without it.

So what’s so important about humility? Well, Pride was the very first sin, actually. It was the reason Lucifer was cast out of heaven. It was the reason Adam and Eve disobeyed God. It is the heart of every other sin we commit because we tell God that we know better than He does. 

Peacock - Sedgwick County Zoo, Wichita, KS

Today’s verse is Isaiah 57:15.

The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.

When I read this, I was a little surprised. Maybe I thought this was a different verse. I don’t know. But usually verses in Isaiah talk about God being in heaven and looking down on all of us like ants and grasshoppers, etc. But this verse is different.

It says that God is in heaven with those who are humble. And he follows up saying that he restores the humble and revives the penitent. And I got to thinking.

If you aren’t humble, you aren’t going to be sorry for the wrong things you’ve done. That’s just the way it is. You’re going to live your life the way you want to live it and it doesn’t matter whether God says you’re wrong or not.

But if you realize that God knows more than you do, that God is telling you to live a certain way to protect you, you’ll be sorry. But you will go beyond just being sorry, you’ll repent. To repent really means to change your mind. It means to be sorry and stop what you’re doing. But the first step in true repentance is humility because you’ll never truly repent until you realize you aren’t the end all of everything.

If you’re humble, you give God something to work with. Have you ever thought about that?

If you think you have it all together and you have all your plans made in spite of what God has told you, there’s not much God can do with you. But if you’re willing to step back and let God take hold of the puzzle pieces of your life and put them all together, He can make something of it that’s bigger and better than anything you could have created. But He won’t take the reins of your life until you give them over.

God is a gentleman. He never forces himself on anyone. We’re fortunate enough that He can use us even when we don’t want to be used, but that’s just because He knows everything and can do everything. But He won’t lead someone who isn’t looking for Him.

Being humble usually means that you’re going to get trampled on. It’s really just the way the world works, but those people who do the trampling don’t understand what really matters in life. And those who get trampled–the humble–usually do. If you’re humble, God can restore you. And if you’re truly repentant, God can give you courage to do things you never thought you’d be able to do.

But that kind of restoration and that kind of strength only come from God. You won’t get that on your own. You can’t achieve that by yourself. It’s part of the paradox of living a Christian life. You have to be weak before God will make you strong. You have to be broken before God can make you whole. You have to suffer before God can reveal what true joy is. Like Jesus said in Matthew, the humble people and the sorrowful people are happy because God can make a difference in their lives.

Want God to use you? Seeking God’s purpose in your life? Need courage to face the day?

Get humble.

Accomplish more by doing nothing?

Do you ever get to feeling tired and worn out? Like the task you’re trying to accomplish is so far beyond you that there’s no way you’ll ever complete it?

I’m having a good week since I came back from that writing workshop so I actually haven’t been dealing with this recently, but I’m human and I know that the time will return (probably shortly) that I look at the time I have available to me and I will compare it to everything that I need to get done and I will start freaking out. So when I read the verse this morning, I thought maybe I should get myself ready for the next time I feel overwhelmed. Because when I start looking at everything that people are expecting me to do, I can start feeling pretty rundown. And the longer and harder I work, it never seems like I actually accomplish anything.

Do you ever feel like you’re on a treadmill your entire life? Like you’re expending a great deal of energy but you never get anywhere?

Well that’s what trying to live in your own strength is like. You wear yourself out and even though you might accomplish bits and pieces of your task, you don’t ever make any real progress.

If you’ve ever experienced that, the verse this morning is for you.

Isaiah 40:31

 ³¹ But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
      They will soar high on wings like eagles.
   They will run and not grow weary.
      They will walk and not faint.

Yes, indeed. One of the most quoted verses in the Old Testament. This one appears on plaques we hang on our walls and cups we drink our coffee out of. But do we ever really let it sink in what it means? This verse is one of the paradoxes of the Christian faith.

Maybe that would be a little clearer using the Amplified Bible:

³¹But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. 

When you read that, do you get the same thing I do? To me, this verse says that if you want to gain new strength to face your challenges in life and if you want to accomplish great things for God, you have to wait for Him.

Does that make sense to anybody? Because it doesn’t make sense at all if we’re trying to be rational about this. The Bible is saying that we will accomplish bigger and better things and more of them if we sit around waiting? One school of thought might understand that sitting and waiting will help with the tired and worn out feeling, but personally I find waiting to be exhausting. So it’s not restful for me to sit and wait. I wear myself out.

How can we accomplish more by doing nothing?

I guess the first answer is that doing nothing and waiting are two completely separate issues, especially when you wait the way the Amplified Bible suggests (expectantly looking for God to do something).

The second answer . . . well, if we rush forward and get ahead of God, we’ll be on our own. We’ll be trying to force events to turn in our favor without God’s backing. If we can just be patient and wait for His timing, all we have to do is just be in the right place at the right time and He’ll do all the work for us.

Sound too good to be true? Well, it is true. And if you’ve ever tried waiting on God, you’ll know that it’s harder than it sounds. I hate waiting. There are so many things I want to do . . . and these things are even for God! They’re not for me. But no matter who I want to accomplish these tasks for, I can’t just rush off and do them myself. They’re too big for me. I mean, I could try to do it on my own, but I’m not smart enough . . . or fast enough . . . or experienced enough . . . So I need God’s help, but He’s not going to open a door for me until He’s ready — until He can fit the dreams He’s given me into His plans.

That means I have to trust Him. Because when I trust Him, I get my eyes off myself and my timetable and my goals and I hang everything on Him. And when I’m no longer relying on myself, I am free to lean on Him completely. And that’s when stuff starts happening. That’s when I get stronger. That’s when my goals seem to start accomplishing themselves.

Part of the paradox of true Christianity is that if you want to accomplish great things for God, you have to stop gumming up the works and get out of the way. God’s going to do what He wants to do no matter what. But if you want a part of it, you’ve got to be willing to do what He tells you, even if what He tells you to do is to wait.