Humility. It is the trait the Bible praises. God says He
will bless the humble and they will find favor with Him. Those who are exemplary
disciples of Christ are marked by a life of humility. Yet, in most cases, it is
the most unpleasant of character lessons to learn. Humans are innately stubborn
beings, so we often have to be humiliated in order to learn humility. This is a
less than appealing thought to me.
Humility. My Bible study brought up this word and I cringed.
Humility is a dangerous thing to pray for. This is the first thought which
springs to mind. The concept of being a humble person is appealing but thinking
of what it will actually take to be a humble person causes me to quiver.
“This is the one I esteem: he who
is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66:22).
Beth Moore followed the verse with this: “Father, I can
hardly imagine being someone You esteem, but I sincerely want to be! Make me
that kind of person, Lord, through the power of Your Holy Spirit.” Yes! I
wholeheartedly agree…but how do I go about making it a reality in my life?
Humility. Yes, I will take a deep breath. Here it goes, I
plunge into a scary realm. “Make me a humble and gentle woman. Reveal to me
areas of pride in my life. Give me eyes to see pride in the same way that You
do. I don’t want to tolerate it anymore or allow it to grow or be encouraged in
my heart. Show me practical ways to root it out.”
Prayer and humility are directly
related.
Prayer = Humility. Lack of prayer = Lack of humility. Ouch. Is
this one of my own thoughts or does the Bible support it? I believe it is
biblical. So I begin looking at a few of the great men in the Bible.
Moses. Exodus 32 and Numbers 14 he intercedes for the children
of Israel. “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his
friend” (Exodus 33:11a). All of these times, the Lord listened and responded.
Moses had a healthy and thriving prayer life. “Now the man Moses was very
humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth” (Numbers 12:3). Many
people mock this verse and say it doesn’t carry much weight since Moses was the
one to write it, The entire Bible is true and God wouldn’t have allowed it to
be in there if it wasn’t true; Moses had a vibrant prayer life and he possessed
the character trait of humility.
David. He recognized that it wasn’t by his own might that he
would defeat Goliath (1 Samuel 17:37). Up to this point in the story, it doesn’t
say directly that David spent time in prayer, but this level of trust in God
would only come from someone who spent time with Him. Later in David’s life, he
neglected to seek God, he began to lack humility (2 Samuel 24).
Lastly, for this short study, Jesus. His prayer life was
regular and strong (John 17). He was humble (Matthew 11:29). There is
definitely a direct relationship between prayer and humility.
Now comes the uncomfortable part of applying all of this to
my life. If I find myself struggling with pride, one of the first things I
should look at is the health of my prayer life. If my prayer life is meager and
starving, my humility is going to be in short supply. Instead of desperately
pleading for the Lord to make me humble, I need to obey Him in His call to
prayer. As I pray, I put myself in the place I was meant to be in – dependent on
God for my needs and the needs of others and recognizing how mighty He is. When
I am in that place, how can I help but humble myself before Him?
