Have you ever noticed when you pray for patience everything under the sun happens to oppose patience?
It’s true – our patience is often developed during trying times, in much the same way we develop muscles. It is by resistance that the muscles of patience are formed.
Last week, I found the same applies in praying for humility. While I can laugh now, it was not fun at the time, not at all.
You may recall the dream I shared last week and how God revealed to me the forerunner in the dream. It was the spirit of humility.
Knowing if I was going to complete my race, spiritually speaking, I would have to keep my eyes on humility and allow humility to be my guide.
Therefore, I began to pray concerning humility. I prayed that God would teach me true humility and I asked, in prayer, for humility to be worked in me.
A couple days after that prayer, my daughter and I went out of town and purchased a desk for her home. The guy from the antique store loaded the desk and we drove home. We stopped several places, so it was hours before we arrived home. When we began to unload the desk, we saw one of the knobs were missing. It was unique and not easily found today.
We looked in her truck and under the blankets and could not find the knob anywhere. Therefore, I deduced that it must have fallen off at the antique store or in the road when they loaded the desk.
I contacted the guys who owned the store, it was already closed, but they kindly went back and searched for the knob. They couldn’t find it, they searched several times. They even went back the next day and searched again all through the store with flashlights.
I felt certain it had to be in their store, but I was wrong. Later that night, Breanne found it lodged in the back of her truck.
After all the time they had spent looking for that knob, I had to call and apologize for assuming it was lost at their store. I had to humble myself and apologize for all the time they had spent looking for the knob when I was wrong the entire time.
I could have not called them and simply let it go, they are in another city, it’s not like we would cross paths soon. That’s what my flesh wanted to do, but my spirit said, ‘humble yourself and let them know what happened, tell them you were wrong.’
That’s what I did.
A few days later at work, I began to get emails stating that that some year end statements were wrong – just a couple – it happens every year. We always check our records with the accountant’s records and make the necessary changes.
Last year we had a few that had been left off, and the mistake was on the accountant’s side. They corrected them and re-sent them, but knowing what had happened last year, I assumed it was the same this year.
I sent off an email to the accounting office and told them what had happened and that my concern was if these couple were wrong that there would be a lot that were wrong.
They answered me graciously and kindly and said they would check into it and make any necessary changes and they apologized.
A few moments later they said they had not received the deposits from certain dates, which comes from us. Therefore, I began sending emails to them showing that those deposits were indeed sent and on what dates they were sent. I had the copies in hand that showed they already had them from us, or so I thought.
Right after I clicked send…I saw something. Don’t you hate that about email? You cannot unsend it.
I saw that when the group email was originally set up, someone had put in the wrong email address for the accounting firm. They had not received the information they needed, and it was our mistake, not theirs. And regardless of who put it in wrong, it was my responsibility and it was me who jumped to conclusions.
I dropped my head and went back to my office to call the accounting firm to apologize. As I walked down the hallway, the Lord spoke to me and said, ‘you can see humility or the lack thereof in the way you react to situations.’
Oh my! That was two lessons on humility in three days and I didn’t pass either one! However, I am sure there are more to come. I am learning as I go and growing in humility.
Did you realize the way you respond to situations reveals whether you walk in humility or not?
James 4:6 states, Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Thankfully God gave me the grace to make both of those calls and humble myself and apologize.
God is working humility in me.
Luke 14:11 says; For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
I am certain if I had handled those two situations any other way than through humility, God, Himself, would have humbled me.
I can assure you of one thing, I will think, pray and wait a moment before I react or assume again.
Humility is the forerunner. It is the guide for me to follow and for you to follow in every situation.
Colossians 3:12 says, put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
True humility will be revealed in God’s chosen ones, those who are set apart unto Him. It will be revealed in compassionate hearts, kindness, meekness and patience. Do you possess those fruits today?
As for me, the Bible says, ‘pride goes before a fall.’ God is well able to keep me from falling, but I have a part to play in that truth – my part is to humble myself under the mighty hand of God and cry out for humility until the fruit of humility is the only fruit I see. That, my friend, is my prayer for me and for you.
