THE AGENTS OF HUMILITY (Part 2)

Scripture: Proverbs 30: 8-9    

“Remove far from me vanity and lies: GIVE ME NEITHER POVERTY NOR RICHES; Feed me with food convenient for me: LEST I BE FULL, AND DENY THEE, and say, Who is the LORD? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain”

Proverbs 30: 8-9

 Indeed, sometimes, God blesses people so much that it is impossible for them to remain humble. You will notice that most people who have a lot of money and earthly blessings are no longer humble enough to be good Christians. The wise man who wrote the Book of Proverbs knew this reality. He even prayed that he would not have much money because he knew that riches could destroy him through pride.     

 

“Remove far from me vanity and lies: GIVE ME NEITHER POVERTY NOR RICHES; Feed me with food convenient for me: LEST I BE FULL, AND DENY THEE, and say, Who is the LORD? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain”

Proverbs 30: 8-9

 Reproaches, necessities, needs and difficulties come to help you remember that you are a man. Your riches, your achievements and your successes have not made you into a god. You still need to pray. You still need to trust God and you still need to kneel in His presence!

The choice is yours. You can do it yourself or you can welcome a whole host of agents who are able to make you humble.

 Apostle Paul spoke of how a thorn and agent of Satan had caused him distress, much weakness and much infirmity. Indeed, sickness, disease, weakness and need are powerful agents of humility. Paul acknowledged this and considered it to be God’s grace towards him. Instead of fighting these agents of humility, he accepted that God had allowed them for his own sake. How terrible and dangerous pride must be!

 God would not allow His precious apostle the privilege of having an abundance of revelation without giving him some associated torment and suffering. Amazingly, it must have been the case that Paul would have been destroyed with pride through the abundance of his revelations. God had to allow a messenger of Satan to pummel, irritate, contradict, fight and pound him into a humble state.

 So what is a thorn in the flesh? A thorn in the flesh is a non-specific term for anything that stings, pricks, irritates and causes injury or difficulty. For some people, a thorn in the flesh is their marriage. For others, it is their children. Some people’s thorn is sickness. Some people’s thorn is a situation and circumstance that does not go away.

 Pride is so subtle, so powerful and so pervasive that the most spiritual people are easily destroyed by it, after three years of teaching and training by Jesus, the disciples' last argument was about who would be the greatest! Imagine that! Pride is so pervasive that three years of eating humble pie and receiving teachings could not drive away the deadly sin of pride from the apostles. Ooooh!

 

Credits: Excerpts from

Formula for Humility 

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills

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