The Lord is close to the humble of heart. Humility comes before honor. We know this is true and good. Again and again, I thank the Lord for humility, both the humility I see in other people and the blessing it is to me as well as when I am truly embracing it due to the masterful teaching of my master, the ultimate example of humility. Remember, Jesus humbled himself to the point of the cross. He did not consider his equality with God to be used for His advantage but made himself nothing; He did this for us.
Usually a lesson in humility comes after we have been blatantly arrogant or arrogant in an area where we should have known better from previous experience. I call this the pruning from the Master. Remember, He prunes us so that we will bear more fruit. However, I really believe that handcrafted lessons in humility or any teaching from the Lord is specific to us, to our personal needs and the required instruction we may need at a certain time. I liken it to an IEP, you know, an Individualized Education Plan that special needs students have in the schools. We all need one of these. This is why we need to be in God’s Word day and night so that we follow His IEP for us. Instruction is the way of life.
Anyway, what does a hydroflask have to do with humility. Well, let me tell you. A couple of weeks ago, I picked my daughter up from school; she has special needs; so do l. We went home and proceeded to get things out of her backpack. Because the lid to her her hydroflask was not properly screwed on, milk leaked all of over. I reacted with judgment and frustration at her school para who helped her with lunch. I thought she should have secured this better. In other words, I reacted with no grace, no humility. We all make mistakes right? But I said to myself, “Can’t an adult do this correctly?” This reaction is doubly awful and makes me ashamed because para educators have one of the hardest jobs in the world, and their intervention for the benefit of my daughter and so many others should be appreciated and regarded with great respect and gratitude. I give thanks for them and want to support them, but my reaction was not reflective of this.
Of course, the para educator did not see my reaction, but God did. This happened on a Friday. Let’s move ahead to Monday. I packed my little doll’s lunch as usual and brought her to school. When I arrived, I had to open the backpack right away to get her assistive technology device out. When I opened her backpack, I saw that there was milk spilled not just in the lunch bag but all over the backpack. Why was this mess there? It was there because I had failed to screw the lid to the hydroflask on correctly. Isn’t the timing of this mistake by this adult interesting!
Do I need to tell you that I got the point right away? In humility and embarrassment, I said, “Oh Lord, thank you.” I knew right away the lesson in humility I was to receive along with the reminder to show grace to everyone. How grateful I am. Going from the arrogance and lack of grace for someone else to a state of humility was life for me; it was instruction; it saves me from becoming more of what is not God’s purpose for me. It reminded me that I am in constant need of grace and the humility of others. Probably we could just stay in the state of humility, but we need constant reminders. It’s OK. God will give them to us.
Remember, the Lord is close to the humble, but He knows the arrogant from afar. He can’t use us if we are arrogant. This is all I have today. Be humble. Don’t have a puffed up view of yourself. Don’t think you won’t commit an error or sin that you see in others. Take heed lest you fall. Humility and God’s constant instruction is your life and will be a blessing to others and a reflection of how God wants us to be.