True Humility
"Then King David went in and sat down before the Lord and prayed. Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And now, O God, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving me a lasting dynasty! You speak as though I were someone very great, O Lord God!" I Chronicles 17:16-17
There are no shortages of examples in my life of times when I have embarrassed myself and those around me. My propensity to say and do things that miss the mark is one I cannot deny. Humiliation and self-depreciation follow closely behind these episodes. Finally, there is a struggle to regain my footing and move forward. Does this pattern sound familiar?
In our verses for the day, we see David humbled before God. His humility, however, was not rooted in his failures even though he had his fair share of those. It was rooted in his clear recognition of his comparative smallness in the presence of God. One commentator expressed it this way, "Humility is not about devaluing your worth. It's about seeing yourself in the light of how big God is." The clearer our picture of who God is, the clearer our picture becomes of who we are. The result? True humility.
Today, we know that the infinite Divine has placed a "priceless" value upon each of us. It's bestowed not earned. We, priceless creations, will stumble and fall in many ways and find ourselves humiliated. We get that. Humility, however, is a completely different conversation. The truly humble person lives in the wonder of the majesty and the magnitude of their Creator and Savior, not the shame and guilt of foolish words and actions.
Grace and Peace,
Tom
There are no shortages of examples in my life of times when I have embarrassed myself and those around me. My propensity to say and do things that miss the mark is one I cannot deny. Humiliation and self-depreciation follow closely behind these episodes. Finally, there is a struggle to regain my footing and move forward. Does this pattern sound familiar?
In our verses for the day, we see David humbled before God. His humility, however, was not rooted in his failures even though he had his fair share of those. It was rooted in his clear recognition of his comparative smallness in the presence of God. One commentator expressed it this way, "Humility is not about devaluing your worth. It's about seeing yourself in the light of how big God is." The clearer our picture of who God is, the clearer our picture becomes of who we are. The result? True humility.
Today, we know that the infinite Divine has placed a "priceless" value upon each of us. It's bestowed not earned. We, priceless creations, will stumble and fall in many ways and find ourselves humiliated. We get that. Humility, however, is a completely different conversation. The truly humble person lives in the wonder of the majesty and the magnitude of their Creator and Savior, not the shame and guilt of foolish words and actions.
Grace and Peace,
Tom
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