2 Chronicles 34:27 “Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before God when you heard what he spoke against this place and its people, and because you humbled yourself before me and tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord.”

I have completely lost count of how many times the Bible says God likes humility in His children. You could just about say that pride is at the root of every sin, because willful disobedience is certainly rooted in pride. However, thinking about it rationally and objectively, a 2-year-old whose favorite word is NO wouldn’t survive very long without their parents., or at least some adult. The appropriate attitude before God is to realize that we are certainly no more capable of genuine independence than a 2-year-old, and that Daddy certainly knows best. We have such trouble grasping that God’s regulations are always for our good. We think He is restricting us, when really He is protecting us. We forget that we have a crafty enemy who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy, and so we fall for his lies. God doesn’t ask humility of us to keep us down, but rather to build us up. Our pride, our boast, should be in our Father who loves us. Many a small child is convinced their father can do anything. Well, we have a Father who really can! However, we’ve got to let go of our self-sufficiency as well as our insecurities and choose really to trust Him, for all of His blessings to be manifested in our lives.

Right now we are in training in this, but then, all of life is training in this! We take a few steps and stumble, but if our hearts are right with God He is always there to catch us. I am learning more and more thoroughly that I can indeed do nothing apart from Christ. (John 15:5) The difficulty at this point is in knowing what my part is in cooperating with what He is doing. Like Paul, I must not be afraid to work hard, (Colossians 1:29) but at the same time remember that anything good that happens is His doing. Like everyone around me, I am a bundle of contradictions. I need to release and commit myself to my Lord, contradictions and all, so that His perfect plans may be fulfilled in and through me, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. This is a truth that can be hard to communicate. I pray that Your Spirit would indeed work through my words and my actions to impart it to Your children, so that together we may be and do all that You intend, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!