Humble Myself…Really?

I don’t know about you, but I hate when people misunderstand me as a person. I do not like it when people think wrongly about me. It causes me to rise up and defend who I am. I am also a justice girl. When things don’t seem right or fair, I want to get right in there and make it the way it should be. I want to set people straight. I can say that my reactions and passionate pleas have caused more problems for me and they have made me look worse than I did in the beginning.

As I have been studying the Tower of Babel and the details of how Satan fell from heaven, it has caused me to have some conversations with God about pride. Today He brought me to 1 Peter.

 “You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,” 1 Peter 5:5-6

God opposes the proud. When I act in pride, I am acting in a position opposing the Lord. I am on the opposite side of where I want to be. When I act in humility, God is on my side. When God is on my side, I can trust that He has my back and He will exalt me at the time He sees is right.

My flesh wants to deal with it right then, but God wants me to hold my tongue, and wait on Him. Share on X

When someone accuses me of being something I am not or misunderstands my words or looks, I want to go into defense mode. Pride is motivating that reaction.  I don’t want to admit that because I feel as though I have the right to defend myself.

“To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.” 1 Peter 3:8-9

Then there are those times when people are just being mean or acting out of their hurts within them. They say unkind words towards me or words with the intent to hurt me. My pride wants to lash back. If I am honest, my pride wants to tell them where to go.

I can hear the laughs now. We want to act all Christian like, but this is the raw, honest, and transparent truth. Sometimes we feel things and think things that don’t go into that nice, perfect Christian bubble, and I am going to humble myself right here and now, and admit that.

We have to stop hiding in our pride. It is prideful to pretend we don't struggle with these things. Share on X

There are times where I want to lash back with my words and my actions. I want to protect my heart from those who are hurting it, but God is showing me that isn’t my job. It is His.

He wants me to humble myself before Him and allow Him to lift me up. He knows who I am. He doesn’t need me to prove that to Him. He has my back and my best interests in mind.

The question is will I trust Him with my heart? Will I humble myself before Him and trust His ways of dealing with those issues and people in my life? Share on X

Will you?

I need to practice this. I have come a long way on this journey. It has not been easy, and there are days when it still isn’t easy, but I have realized that God’s ways are much better than my own. When I take things into my own hands, it leads to disaster. When I release it to Him, humble myself before Him, He does a much better job of dealing with it all than I ever could. He restores my reputation in ways I never could. As they say, I come out smelling like roses when I let Him lead.

Are there areas of pride in your life, you need to lay down before Him today? I encourage you to sit at His feet. Bring all of it to Him and humble yourselves before Him. He will indeed lift you up!