…and sometimes this ?gets me into trouble!
The problem with writing is that it requires words.
Those words are linked together to create a sentence; then, one sentence links together with another and another to form a paragraph; and, ultimately, paragraphs combine to comprise a blog post.
What’s missing is body language.
Most importantly, the eyes of the author are absent.
Without the eyes, one can not see into the soul.
And, an author’s soul just can’t be spilled out entirely through ink…no matter how much one tries.
This said, oh, how I struggle to put into words, sentences, and paragraphs my current study on pride and humility.
So, sometimes when I write, I don’t pay enough attention to getting my heart across….and, the end result is that the poison of pride seeps into that ink.
God hates pride.
I hate pride….my own pride!
AND, the more I research, read God’s Word, attempt to glean a deeper understanding, it seems the more my own pride raises its ugly head.
I haven’t conquered it – not by a long shot!
Heaven forbid that I ever communicate that I have! A big apology when it has mindlessly occurred.
But, humility isn’t a vaporous dream, either….it is, in no way, a cloud that will constantly and illusively slip through my fingers.
Pride does not have the final say!
I have hope…
Hope of humility flew into my world this week, as I randomly read one Scripture verse and remembered another.
Numbers 12:3 crept into mind (oh, not the exact “address,” but the words):
At first I chuckled.
Moses, himself, probably wrote the words that make up the sentence, that make up the paragraphs, that make up the book of Numbers (And, I wonder if we truly catch an accurate glimpse of his heart in his writings, as well).
Yet, Moses wrote as God directed, as did other writers of God’s Words (now, this sentence may have been added later by Joshua, but we don’t know that for sure).
The point is:
GOD wanted these words in the book of Numbers.
It reminds us of our hope for humility…and ultimately holiness (for “the journey toward humility truly leads to holiness” – Andrew Murray).
At that specific time, Moses was VERY HUMBLE…the humblest on earth, in fact; but, that is not the way Moses’ story began.
Moses’ life was divided into three, 40-year-segments.
During, his first 40-years, Moses grew up thinking he was pretty special.
In fact, the historian Josephus, tells us that Moses’ birth-mom, Jochebed, no doubt instilled this notion into Moses all through the years she nursed and educated him before handing him to Pharaoh’s daughter to raise (roughly 5 years). In fact, according to Josephus, Jochebed truly believed that Moses’ was the promised redeemer who would lead God’s people out of bondage…
His other-mother, Pharaoh’s daughter, made sure he was being raised and educated as an Egyptian to take the throne of Pharaoh one day. She, too, assured Moses of his unique “special calling.”
So, Moses, believing he was the all-around “I am” of the moment, took matters into his own hands (taking the place of God = PRIDE), and the Lord wouldn’t allow it. No way was Moses going to step into his real calling, NOT UNTIL the Almighty, took Moses through His School of Humility.
So, off Moses went to the wilderness for his next 40 years of training, where, ironically, he herded sheep (1. if there was one thing Egyptians were taught to disdain and despise, it was SHEPHERDS; Moses was the very thing he grew up hating; and, 2. There is nothing more akin to herding sheep than herding people).
Talk about training in humility!
Over those 40 years, Moses realized he was pretty much insignificant.
He was reduced to rubble while learning how to be loving, gentle, kind, caring, compassionate, patient, accepting, forgiving, sacrificial, submissive to the Lord, willing to serve, and to put others first…..
In other words, he learned HUMILITY!
Ever feel like you’re on the back side of a desert? Ever wonder why it’s just day after day after day of waiting for God to do SOMETHING….ANYTHING?
Maybe God has you there for some purpose you can’t even see as He “schools” you…
Now at 80, the Lord was ready to use Moses.
A few kinks were still being worked out at the Burning Bush (& from time to time along the way to the Promised Land)…but Moses was ready to graduate.
When the bush stopped burning, there stood a new Moses:
A man who was NOTHING, yet a man whom God could fill and use mightily.
A man who knew he was NOTHING, but that God was EVERYTHING.
A man who now asked, “Who am I that I should go?”
And, a man who heard God say, “You are right, you are not the i am, but I AM the I AM….”
Yep, there’s hope for humility in us all.
It takes a little schooling…and a little waiting…and, a little setting aside of self…AND, a whole lot of trusting God, who is truly the I AM!
So….I’m ready to learn some of those finer skills of humility.
I’m enrolling in God’s School of Humility…
…and, there will be a few more thoughts on this next week….
