Wisdomfied part 12-Concern for Self

Prepare Your Heart: Spend some time meditating on Psalm 131.  It is a short Psalm, one that is easy to recite.  Remember biblical meditation is filling your mind with God’s truth, not emptying it.  Repeat it slowly and thoughtfully, asking God to take away pride and rest your soul in preparation for today’s study. 

This year it was my first year to host Thanksgiving.  It was a very nice time.  Simple.  No TV but a big puzzle.  Sitting around chatting and eating pie.  Ending the day cleaning the kitchen and drying the dishes with my husband was the perfect way to end the day.  I got on the internet later to check for an email via facebook and saw a lot of posts about people’s plans for shopping and all the stress they were anticipating.  My pastor commented on a mutual friend’s status that it’s too bad that Black Friday has to follow a holiday like Thanksgiving.  And he’s right…it’s almost like the celebration of two extremes.  One a day to rest, eat, be with family and be content and grateful.  The other, to try to get as much stuff as you can for as cheap as you can.   I’ve never wanted to shop on that day because I think the materialism tends to bring out the worse in people. 

Today’s study is about our concern for ourselves.  Like the two big days that just passed, we can start each day with gratitude and think of others in humility.  Yet our default swings us the other way toward pride.  Do we think that God owes us something because of our piety?  Do we tend to do things on our own, even when we need help? Do we take our strengths and compare them to other’s weaknesses to stroke our self-ego?  Those things all describe an attitude of pride. 

Let’s read in Proverbs what God has to say about these two qualities. 

Pride and humility

·         11:2

·         12:9

·         13:7,10

·         15:25

·         16:5, 18,19

·         18:12

·         19:10

·         20:9

·         21:4

·         21:24

·         22:4

·         25:27

·         26:16

·         27:2, 21

·         29:23

The Products of Selfish Living

·         14:30

·         18:1

·         24:19,20

·         27:4

One verse that stood out to me is Proverbs 16:18: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall (NIV).  The word haughty is amped up pride.  It’s is an attitude of exaltations, grandeur, a feeling as if you are the top and above others.  When those things are applied to God’s character they are worthy of praise.  When they are applied to us they produce deceit.  Then the “products of selfish living” above appear in our lives-greed, jealousy, envy, and selfishness.  As I consider this verse, I am reminded in my life when my pride caused me stumble.  An attitude of pride seems to be a part of every argument or situation that brings frustration.  Yet when I think of others and not myself, I start living the way that leads to peace and harmony with others.  For humility isn’t thinking of yourself as “less than” you are but instead not really thinking of yourself at all.  I’ve discovered in me that when I am most proud, I am most insecure.  I find a desire to care for myself instead of letting God care for me.  When I am humble, I am trusting in Him to provide.  Think about a situation you’ve felt pride come into.  At the root of this, is there an insecurity and a trust of self instead of in God?  Take this to the Lord in prayer.  Ask Him to show you your pride and change your doubts to greater faith in Him.