Chosen Grace

Many of you reading this will associate the title with Kendrick Lamar’s hit single, Humble. 

But, I come to talk about being humble in the spiritual sense. And that is something that is very important for believers in Christ Jesus.

Now, before we get into this, I’d like to explain how I got to writing this particular blog post.

Lately, God has been changing the way I read his word. I no longer read where I left off. Instead, I let God guide me in flipping to a random page. I then read wherever He leads me, pray about it, then I ask Him to show me what I do not know. Then, the last part is where he usually guides me into His word- showing me exactly what He wants to show me.

Now, on one particular day, God led me to Jeremiah 48, where this particular verse stood out to me.

“Moab shall be destroyed and no longer be a people, because he magnified himself against the Lord.” –Jeremiah 48:42 ESV

Now, this was written by Jeremiah, for whom the book is named. he was prophesying about the judgement God would reign down on the the nations. This particular verse, about Moab, made me think about myself- and others.

As I pondered on this verse, I flipped some pages backwards and God led me to Isaiah 15 and 16. And that is where a verse once again stood out to me.

“We have heard of the pride of Moab- how proud he is!- of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; in his idle boasting he is not right. Therefore let Moab wail for Moab, let everyone wail.” –Isaiah 6-7a ESV

Wait- now the Infamous Isaiah was talking about them? By this time my mind was going in circles. I mean, I had just read two verses containing the same exact nation and it was saying the exact same thing.  And I knew it must be important because two major prophets had spoke about them. It was then, I knew I had to investigate.

And when I did investigate, I saw myself in Moab’s shoes. Prideful, arrogant, and boastful. The reality of it hit me hard. It was true- I can be prideful.

Just like Moab we all find ourselves prideful at sometimes. Now don’t get me wrong- pride is not a bad thing. It is only when that prideful spirit puffs you up and puts whatever it may be above God then it is bad- really bad.

Pride comes in different forms. For example, you can be prideful about about the way you look or how you sing. You can be prideful of a thing or a person. Either way, a prideful spirit is not a good thing at all. God constantly reminds us of that in His Word. Time and time again He shows us of what can and will happen if you don’t humble yourself.

I was once there. When I was in 3rd grade, God gave me the gift of prayer. I would always pray in church and many people complemented me on the prayers I spoke. Soon I got real prideful. If I knew I was going to pray in church that Sunday, I would practice and think of “good” things to say to get people’s attention. The Lord never crossed my mind once. Like Moab- I was exalting myself above God.

Well one day, God got tired. I went to pray and it seemed that I stuttered over every word that came out of my mouth. I knew then that God had removed his hand of favor from upon me.

Realizing this I stopped praying for a long time. Until I humbled myself and came to God’s throne of grace and mercy, I was not going to utter a prayer aloud in church for a long time.

A couple of years ago I stopped playing with God and became serious about our relationship. It was then that he restored unto me what he had taken away. I now pray in church. Not as much as I used too, but when I volunteer and am called on to do so. I no longer pray for man, but for my God. And He makes my prayers just as he would have them to.

You see, you have to humble yourself. God will uplift the humble and detest the proud. He does not play when it comes to that- I’m a living witness. I was Moab. 

I don’t know about any of you- but I do not want to be like Moab. The Scriptures say that Moab was about to be destroyed. Like Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed. And it’s a scary thought to think that we could too. Maybe not physically. But just like with my praying- God can and will take whatever it is away from you. Whether it be a person, thing, your looks, or a gift that He gave you. Because God wants us to love and care for the things he has given us. And a prideful and boastful spirit is abusing what God blessed you with. And in the Scriptures above- Moab abused what God had given them- so God took it away with force.

Also, pridefulness hinders and severs your relationship with God. God will, as I’ve stated in my personal account, remove His hand from you. He won’t leave you, no, but when He removes himself from you- he’s removing a hedge of protection that can only come from him. When He does remove his hand, all types of things happen. And it is only Him trying to get you attention to get back unto him. That, my friends, is conviction and discipline.

The bottom line of this blog post is that we all struggle with a prideful spirit at times. I’m not ashamed to admit that I do. Whenever I feel myself becoming that way, I ask God in that moment the humble me and open my eyes spiritually. Because a second wasted with God being prideful can damage the spirit. 

So, in closing- let’s not be like Moab in the verses above. Pray for a humble spirit and watch God work. He won’t fail you. He will uplift His humble children. All you’ve got to do is to sit down, be humble. 

 

With Love,

Malaysia.