” Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up”
– James 4:10
I don’t like asking for help…or even the idea of letting someone else shoulder my burdens. It has always been something i struggled with. i see it as a sign of weakness, that it was something that could some how make me lose my dignity as man (i say that in the most unhumble way…) and i the last thing i want is for people to treat or think of me like im fragile…like a wounded animal (its worse than being ripped a new one).
It started for me when i was a little kid. in school i hated asking questions, i liked know all the answers. cause if i knew all the answer, i would never have to ask questions, and ultimately never need help. Even when it was painfully obvious that i couldn’t getting it i would do everything in my power to figure it out, to somehow miraculously pull the answer out of a hat an then pat myself on the back for a miracle well done.
It didn’t help that i was big into action movies and Adventures that made ordinary guys into heroes and legends. Guys that never had all the answers of the tools somehow, someway solved a puzzle or defeated the villian or saved the entire human race all under their own power with nothing more than a “can-do” attitude and an unbeleivable amount of Luck ( almost as if the universe planned the whole thing and was handing over victory and glory on a silver platter). Thats what i wanted. i wanted to be the guy that had everything just fall into place for him (without rhyme or reason). But as i got older that way of think really came back to bite me. I settled into the idea that i didn’t need help with anything and if I couldn’t figure something out, if i just wasn’t grasping the concept, if I didn’t see any value, or if i didn’t have any interest in it then I would wash my hands of it. throughout all of high school i just skated by with that mentality and it worked out pretty well (for the most part). However, college was my downfall (a story for another time).
Since then i have learned many things. many lessons that were difficult and painful but ultimately neccesery. Hardest lesson of all was learning to be humble. Humility is not easy for anyone. when we do something good or something inspiring it naturally gives us confidence makes us feel proud and accomplished. we revel in the glory and praise from others for what we have done. Eventually we start to think like this:
and the more we receive praise the more our pride grows. sometimes so much so that it consumes us. we start to think that we can do anything under our own power no matter how big or how impossible the task may seem. it blinds us to reality and inevitably becomes our downfall.
Proverbs 16:18 says “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall”.
We fall because we don’t receive the help we need. Either because we are too stubborn(and Prideful) to ask or we flat out refuse it when offered. We treat our pride like we treat our prized possessions. well kept, sometimes out on display for all to see, and off limits to everyone. but when its lost, or worse, broken. Our world collapses around us.
As a worship leader Pride is a constant threat. I myself have succumbed to more than once. My Job is to bring honor, praise and glory to Him and only him. There are days where that is not always the case. sometimes I get to focused on me and it looses all meaning and purpose. It becomes my downfall
Psalm 10:4 says “In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God”.
Pride removes God as our source of power, pride makes us foolish in think we can live with out him, that we can provide from ourselves, that he isn’t as important as everyone one says and it couldn’t be farther from the truth.
He is eternal, he is all powerful, he is all-knowing, he is perfect in everyway. It doesn’t matter how strong or wise we think we are God is still greater. For “the foolishness of God Is greater than the wisdom of man and the weakness of God is stronger than the strength of man”(1 Cor. 1:25). God is far more than my pride. As a racer, Pride will bring this amazing journey to an abrupt and sudden end. humility is not a suggestion. Its a requirement.
Pray that I may be humble in my walk, that I find strength and power in the great I Am, the Creator, the Savior, in God who loves, God who gives, and God who takes away. that I would remember that He is in control, it is by His will that I am here today. and it his will that guides my everystep.
Thanks for reading.
