Weekly Devotion

April 04 2021

OH LORD, IT’S HARD TO BE HUMBLE

1 PETER 5: 5b-7
And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for
“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble”. Humble yourselves therefore under the
mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him, because he
cares for you.
Proverbs 3:34b
But to the humble He shows favor.

I don’t know about you, but grace and favor sound wonderful to me.
Humble- Google definition: having or showing a modest or low estimate of one’s own importance…
Not proud, not arrogant, not assertive…a humble person is at peace with themselves and others.
A humble person is grateful. A humble person is slow to offend and quick to forgive.
A humble person asks for help.

Wait a minute! A humble person asks for help? Now that is just not in my comfort zone…
What about “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength?”

Growing up I was a shy kid and in fact was named shyest girl in my senior class in high school.
I will admit that broke my heart a little…those kids just didn’t know the real me….and in truth they
didn’t. I was so busy projecting what I thought was an acceptable way of being, that the real me was lost
in the shuffle.

Now that I am older, much older, waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy older, I have strived at being authentic and
real. I have shared both my happy, sad and failure stories and have been transparent whenever I could.
I would say transparency is extremely humbling.

But asking for help? The other day while I was shopping, I saw a good deal on a large sack of dog food
(55 pounds).

I maneuvered my cart over, quickly assessed the situation and reached for the nearest bag. Suddenly a
younger lady approached and said “Let me get that for you” and despite my insistence that I could do it,
she lifted it easily into my cart. I thanked her (a humble person is grateful), but as I walked away, I
teared up a bit. I was not only embarrassed that she helped me, I was embarrassed that I looked like a
person who would need help and didn’t want to admit that I did. I felt unsure of myself and wondered
when I began to look weak. Now don’t get me wrong, I have had my share of weak times I just didn’t
know on this particular day I would be dealing with that feeling.
It took a lot of thinking and a good deal of prayer but I came to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe
God sent that lady over to help teach me about humility. God gives grace to the humble.

Dearest Lord,
Help us to remember that you love us and that you created us uniquely. Teach us to be humble.
Let your Spirit shine through us. Thank you for caring for us. Instruct us to accept help humbly when
necessary. Amen and amen.