Becoming Like Our Humble God
Jesus came in a way, that was easily missed by the average person. A king born in a humble and dirty manger! The savior of the world, being birthed around the livestock. Its hard to believe, but we serve a HUMBLE God. And it takes humbling our hearts often to really see and receive Him... not only at salvation... but in our daily walk and hard situations. Its easy to get a little knowledge and experience with our faith and think we got it all figured out. But...
I believe the Lord wants to remind us [and myself] to take the time to listen and make sure we arent missing Him in any way in this season. Ive heard it said, that we are never really "right" about anything, until we are willing and a little open to the possibility that we could be wrong. Such a humbling thought. But it does wonders to make sure we arent stuck in any pride or opinionated-ness... that could actually be blinding us to the Lords heart and blessing on things. (Something that I regularly try to work on.)
If you think about it... any opinion, judgment or assessment we have... should always be taken to the Lord. Its a hard thing to do... but a healthy balanced love and fear of the Lord should draw us to our knees and to humble our hearts, where we regularly ask Him.....
"Lord what do you think about this scripture or what do you think about this situation?
What does your word say about this situation?
What is your heart about this?
What do you feel about this?
What should my response be?
Am I responding wrong?
Am I missing anything?
How would you respond to this situation if you were in my shoes?"
If we are genuine and sincere we are guaranteed to hear Him, and there are times we just might be surprised at what the Lord says. If we only go with our first knee jerk and automatic opinion on a situation.. we are at risk of missing the perspective of Jesus. Even if our opinion is based on scripture, we can still be carrying a wrong heart.
The religious community wanted to stone and "kill" someone who sinned (in the NT). If they had paused and prayed and listened (not just prayer/study only), they would have handled that moment with love and forgiveness (and an appropriate amount of correction/help), instead of harshness and a death sentence. We pray for our enemies, we bless those who spitefully use us. We submit to leaders/pastors/bosses we might not always agree with. God's ways are definitely not our ways. He does not make decisions based on what we think and what like or dislike lol. It’s both an awesome reality and a painful one to swallow at times. But ALWAYS bears fruit and eternal impact if we will yield to His ways.
I believe there is nothing more liberating, than having times of going to the Lord and laying our STRONGLY held opinion on the altar... and asking, Lord what do you think? How should I be thinking about this? How should I be acting, responding and treating people in this situation?
And then just be still for a few minutes and listen to his heart...
I believe the Lord has a wealth of knowledge/revelation to give people in this season, a spiritual wealth... that will come from humbling our hearts and opinion, and being still before Him regularly before/after times of study. I believe there is a sweet fellowship, a closeness and presence of the Lord that almost seems too good to be true, that He has for you in this season.
The Lord is so patient and so so good to us... praying not one person who reads this post misses the voice of God and His perspective in our lives. That we would all see the goodness of the Lord in every situation in this season...
"I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness." Psalm 145:5-7
"The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works." Psalm 145:9
"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23:6