The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"In Confidence and Humility"
God knows Himself perfectly. He knows who He is, what He can do, and how much His creatures need Him for "life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:25). He always acts in accordance with this complete self awareness, possessing total confidence in Himself and His doings.
"I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by Myself" (Isaiah 44:24).
"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for Me?" (Jeremiah 32:27).
Wondrously, such knowledge in God leads to humility of heart and mind, as opposed to the arrogance we might see if anyone else of such being and character knew himself so well - "I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). Self knowledge is a necessary thing in conscious beings, but can be a danger in those other than God. Indeed, if we rightly know ourselves through the illumination of the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures, we follow our Lord in His humility. However, sin complicates our awareness, whether in the ignorance of not knowing who and what we are, or in tempting us to pride when we see our "fearfully and wonderfully made" humanity for the marvel it is (Psalm 139:14). Our spiritual enemies lure us into the trap of focusing on what we have achieved rather than what we have received. "What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?… Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?" (I Corinthians 4:7; Amos 6:13).
Without arrogance, pride, or egotism, God knows His infinite, eternal, and almighty being and ability. Such supreme confidence unites with sublime humility, revealing a being who can be trusted regarding ability, and even more importantly, character. The better we see ourselves in His holy light, the more we will escape the insane delusion and illusion of vanity and self-importance. Indeed, the only being who has anything to proud of, is not. Instead, our Lord exercises His infinite ability in a manner that does not openly advertise its wonder. Only those with eyes to see realize that a beautiful sunset blesses us as the masterpiece of an Artist who does not sign His work. Yes, we can trust such an almighty One as this, and in so doing, we will become more like Him in confidence and humility. Confidence in Him, of course, and the blessed humility of knowing who He is, who we are, and the gift of being conformed to His glorious spiritual and moral image…
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
(Philippians 2:5-8)
"Before honor is humility."
(Proverbs 15:33)
Weekly Memory Verse
What hast thou that thou didst not receive?
(I Corinthians 4:7)
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