Some Humbling Words
Sometimes the Lord needs to do a humbling work in us as part of our sanctification.
When I started college, I needed to learn 1 Corinthians 1:18-21: "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I WILL DESTROW THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." You may want to read the rest of the chapter some time.
Later, as I was in the working world, I needed to learn 1 Corinthians 4:7: "For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?"
Then, when Garry and I were going through a difficult time, we found ourselves in James 4:13-15: "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.' Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.'"
During that same period, when my Dad passed away suddenly, we found great comfort in Psalm 46:1-3: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah."
I have rejoiced in Lamentations 3:19-24: "Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed within me. This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail, They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'Therefore I have hope in Him.'"
Recently I have come back time and again to these promises in Hebrews 12:10b-11: "He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."
I pray as the psalmist in Psalm 143:10: "Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground."
When I started college, I needed to learn 1 Corinthians 1:18-21: "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I WILL DESTROW THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." You may want to read the rest of the chapter some time.
Later, as I was in the working world, I needed to learn 1 Corinthians 4:7: "For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?"
Then, when Garry and I were going through a difficult time, we found ourselves in James 4:13-15: "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.' Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.'"
During that same period, when my Dad passed away suddenly, we found great comfort in Psalm 46:1-3: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah."
I have rejoiced in Lamentations 3:19-24: "Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed within me. This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail, They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'Therefore I have hope in Him.'"
Recently I have come back time and again to these promises in Hebrews 12:10b-11: "He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."
I pray as the psalmist in Psalm 143:10: "Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground."
posted by Ebeth | 8:45 AM
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