Saturday, May 16, 2009

Humility, The Characteristic that Turns God's Head


Psa 131:1 A Song of degrees of David. LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.
Psa 131:2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.
Psa 131:3 Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.

Humility is a hard thing to come by because the flesh fights it at every turn.

If anyone had an opportunity to be haughty, it would have been David. He slew a lion and bear with his hands, slew Goliath with a slingshot, invented 100s of instruments and was known as the sweet Psalmist of Israel. He killed a couple of hundred men to earn the hand of the king's daughter in marriage. He personally served in the king's court. He won innumerable battles and ascended to the throne. Women swooned in his presence. If ever there was a man who earned braggadocio, this was the man.

And yet, this psalm has him walking to the temple in sincere humility. His heart is not proud, his eyes are on the ground, shoulders are hunched, mouth shut. Wow!

As flawed as this man was, it is no wonder that God would later call him a man after God's own heart.

You may have compiled a nice list of notable accomplishments. Possibly you also have a laundry list of failures. But neither of these turn God's head. What grabs His attention is humility, an honest inventory of our own capacity for good and evil. God knows the stuff we are made of and when we align our thinking with His truth in the matter of our limitations, Then He can give grace to the humble.

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