King Jehoshaphat's Prayer

After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, "A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar" (that is, Engedi). Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said, "O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, 'If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you— for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.' And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." --2 Chronicles 20:1-12

In Jehoshaphat's mind, he and the people that he was leading were on the verge of invasion and disaster. There was no appearance of a way out. There were no words slick enough to change the opposing armies' minds. There were no actions that could be taken to appease their enemies. There was not enough strength to defeat those who were coming after them. There was no way to win!

As these thoughts passed through the mind of the king, he turned to his God. Where else had he to turn? Read again these words that were prayed by the king aloud in front of his people: "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you". Imagine if we turned on the TV and heard the president of the United States pray these words. What humility! What a confidence in God. What faith! What a moment of true leadership! In a time where disaster and defeat were at the door and ready to crush all hope, the king of Judah turned to the King of the universe in faith.

What can we take away from Jehoshaphat's circumstance and response? Have you ever prayed "I do not know what to do, but my eyes are on you"? This seems like a simple prayer. Yet this is a self-confidence abandoning, pride-dissolving, heart-rearranging prayer. Maybe this prayer is not so simple. No one enjoys admitting that they don't know what to do. Yet in this story a king prays before his people these very words as he, in faith, throws himself upon the mercy of the Maker.

Do we have this kind of faith? Do we trust our Father this much? Do we have this kind of humility? Would we dare to pray this prayer? Would we dare to pray this prayer in front of others? Would we dare to pray this prayer before those whom we are responsible for or leading? Do we have this kind of confidence in God?

As the story progresses, we see that God chose to honor the king's prayer. As the king led his army to battle, trusting his Lord, the Bible tells us that God set an ambush for his enemies and that they were miraculously defeated. The king and his people gathered all the spoil and returned home. God's Word says that they had joy and rejoiced because of God's great victory.

This story from 2 Chronicles is a wonderful picture of our Sovereign Creator. Our God rules over all kingdoms. Our God has such power and might in his hand that none is able to withstand him. Our God is the God of Heaven and he does all that he pleases. How could we not, as the king of Judah did, fix our eyes on him? Jehoshaphat humbled himself before the Lord and the Lord raised him up and gave him the victory. It is impossible to pray a prayer like this when pride and self-confidence are too strong in our hearts. It is impossible to deal with pride appropriately without first kneeling in submission at the the foot of the cross. May we submit our hearts in humility to the one who humbled himself to the point of death, even death on the cross that we might live. Let us follow this example given to us and abandon any inappropriate faith, confidence, or reliance that rests on anything or anyone other than the matchless King of kings and Lord of lords.

Christ's Example of Humility

So two weeks ago, I wrote about "Humility and Absolute Surrender"(which you can read here). Pride is a big struggle, so I wanted to post a passage talking about Christ's Example of Humility.

Philippians 2:1-11

"So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Now I know that there is tons of stuff that I could take from this passage write about, but this is what I want to do. Read the passage again, and think about your thought life.

How often do you think of yourself more highly than others(even small passing thoughts)? How often do you get hurt because someone hurt your pride(was better than you at something and "put you in your place")? How much time do you spend thinking about yourself in comparison to others? How much time do you spend thinking about yourself in comparison to God?

Test yourself and be open to what the Lord will show you. The Lord has shown me things that I am ashamed of, and yet, out of grace, He hasn't shown me all my faults. He is also merciful to forgive.

Read the passage and see how you compare to Christ's example of humility. Don't just think about it now, while you are reading this. Think about it when your with your friends, when you're doing homework,etc. Be constantly aware of your thoughts, because that's the reflection of your heart.

Lord, we are wretched and sinful creatures. And we continue to sin over and over again. Our thoughts are constantly self-centered, even in the good, righteous things we do. Humble us, Lord, and give us hearts to hear your voice of truth that tells us we are wrong. Take our pride and turn it into a worship and exaltation of You, instead of us. This is only possible through your grace and the Holy Spirit. We praise you and thank you for that as well. Amen.

Humility

Today I started the book "Humility & Absolute Surrender" by Andrew Murray. I choose this book next in my list because I am an extremely judgmental and prideful person. God has shown me how selfish my thoughts are most of the time. They are consumed with me, usually in comparing with others. God is gracious to me in two ways when this happens though.

First, He forgives my prideful thoughts and counts me righteous because of Christ's selfless act of salvation on the cross. Secondly, He usually puts me in situations where someone is more talented than I am, therefore I am humbled. These moments are hard, because I don't want people to be better than me, but I praise Him for showing me and adding to my sanctification.

In the preface, Andrew says, "In our ordinary religious teaching, the second aspect has been too exclusively put in the foreground, so that some have even gone to the extreme of saying that we must keep sinning if we are indeed to keep humble. Others again have thought that the strength of self-condemnation is the secret of humility.

"And the Christian life has suffered loss, where believers have not been distinctly guided to see that, even in our relation as creatures, nothing is more natural and beautiful and blessed than to be nothing, that God may be all; or where it has not been made clear that it is not sin that humbles most, but grace, and that it is the soul, led through its sinfulness to be occupied with God in his wonderful glory as God, as Creator and Redeemer, that will truly take the lowest place before him."

This is a common misconception that I had bought into. I would think about my sinfulness and use that as my humility and to an extent that is good. If we have a healthy view of how sinful we are, it shows us how important the cross is, which increases our view of grace. That doesn't mean that we sin more. It just means that we recognize how sinful we are already.

The cross is the most humbling act in the history of the world, but too often we take it for granted. We continue through our lives thinking we are cooler than others, better than others, and more worthy than others, when reality is that we are all dust. Dust that sinned and deserved eternal punishment. But instead Jesus died so that we might live. This should baffle us.

As a last point, I want to speak to the "super-Christians" in our bible-belt region. Beware of the constant judging and justifying that you do to yourself and others. How many times have you been listening to a sermon and thought "oh, _______ (< insert name) could use this sermon." How many times do you justify the things you do because either, others have done them and so it's ok, or someone has wronged you so it was ok to respond the way you did.

I only bring this up, because these are the things that I do constantly, and God has shown me that I am wrong. Even now I have to battle the thoughts of "oh, I hope so and so will read my blog post." I am a sinful human being that fails, but by God's grace, is forgiven and pointed back to doing the right thing. I thank God for putting up with me and my sinfulness, and I also want to thank my friends, family and mentors for doing the same. You all have been a blessing to me. Thank you.

Let me decrease; let Christ increase

Here, again, are some thoughts with Thomas Watson. I have been so blessed to be able to jump back into some of his books, and I am thankful for their helpfulness! These particular thoughts were especially convicting to me. This passage is from "The Godly Man's Picture" in a section about how the Godly man is a humble man.

"A humble soul is emptied of all swelling thoughts of himself. Bernard calls humility a self-annihilation. `Thou wilt save the humble' (Job 22:29). In the Hebrew it is `him that is of low eyes'. A humble man has lower thoughts of himself than others can have of him. David, though a king, still looked upon himself as a worm: `I am a worm, and no man' (Psa. 22:6). Bradford, a martyr, still subscribes himself a sinner. `If I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head' (Job 10:15) – like the violet which is a sweet flower, but hangs down the head.

A humble soul thinks better of others than of himself: `let each esteem other better than themselves' (Phil. 2:3). A humble man values others at a higher rate than himself, and the reason is because he can see his own heart better than he can another's. He sees his own corruption and thinks surely it is not so with others; their graces are not so weak as his; their corruptions are not so strong. `Surely', he thinks, `they have better hearts than I.' A humble Christian studies his own infirmities and another's excellences and that makes him put a higher value upon others than himself. `Surely I am more brutish than any man' (Prov. 30:2). And Paul, though he was the chief of the apostles, still calls himself `less than the least of all saints' (Eph. 3:8).

A humble soul is a Christ-magnifier (Phil. 1:20). He gives the glory of all his actions to Christ and free grace. King Canute took the crown off his own head and set it upon a crucifix. So a humble saint takes the crown of honour from his own head and sets it upon Christ's. And the reason is the love that he bears to Christ. Love can part with anything to the object loved. Isaac loved Rebekah and he gave away his jewels to her (Gen. 24:53). The humble saint loves Christ entirely, therefore can part with anything to him. He gives away to Christ the honour and praise of all he does. Let Christ wear those jewels.

A humble man is willing to have his name and gifts eclipsed, so that God's glory may be increased. He is content to be outshone by others in gifts and esteem, so that the crown of Christ may shine the brighter. This is the humble man's motto: `Let me decrease; let Christ increase.' It is his desire that Christ should be exalted, and if this is effected, whoever is the instrument, he rejoices. `Some preach Christ of envy' (Phil. 1:15). They preached to take away some of Paul's hearers. `Well,' says he, `Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice' (v.18). A humble Christian is content to be laid aside if God has any other tools to work with which may bring him more glory.

A humble Christian will stoop to the meanest person and the lowest office; he will visit the poorest member of Christ. Lazarus' sores are more precious to him than Dives' purple. He does not say, `Stand by, come not near to me, for I am holier than thou' (Isa. 65:5), but `condescends to men of low estate' (Rom. 12:16)."

Judging (Part 2)

Dave Swavely writes in Who Are You to Judge? : "In his case of judging in 1 Corinthians 4:3-5, the apostle Paul has called two witnesses so far- The incompleteness of man's judgment (it is seriously limited) and the insubordination of man's judgment (it is a sin of disobedience to God). In verse 5 he call another witness- the inappropriateness of judging."

1 Corinthians 4:5 - "Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God."

Here we see that the Lord is the only qualified Judge. Romans 14:4 - "Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand."

He is also the only capable Judge. Hebrews 4:12 - "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

How can one judge another if they do not know the motives behind a persons actions? It is wrong to assume that you know their motives and that is exactly what sinful judging is. Too often we as humans jump to conclusions about everything, before we know anything that happened. We assume that we know everything that goes on in someone's head, but in reality all we see is the action.

Paul writes that God will "bring to light the things now hidden in darkness." That is our heart motives for every action we have ever done. He knows why we do what we do. And He says that on the Judgment Day, God will bring them to light. He will make them known and "each one will receive commendation from God." God alone will judge our hearts.

Dave Swavely gives an example of what could happen to someone who judges falsely and then stands before the Lord:

"I don't want to stand under the fiery glare of our holy God, and hear Him say to me, 'Did you think that this child of mine was wrong in what he did, and criticize him to other?'

'Y-y-yes, Lord,' I will have to answer, with a gulp.

'Well, I did not think he was wrong at all! Nothing in My Bible said what he did was wrong, and I happen to know that his heart was right, which makes Me quite pleased with him. So the only person who was wrong in that situation was you!'"

Do you want to be known as a judgmental person? Someone who tries to blame others of false motives? God will judge those who judge. Do you think He will be please that we think that we can accurately do His job? I don't want to be known as someone who thinks that He can take God's place as the true Judge. You may not think you are when you judge, but in your heart you think that you know what only God knows.

Lord, humble us. Put us in our place as servants willingly submitting, and not constantly trying to ineffectively overthrow You. Give us strength to fight against this sin of Judging. Thank you for Christ and His work that has abolished sin for Your glory!