I haven't gone to work for almost 2 weeks, so nothing exciting yet that I could share with you from the prison. This morning, as I was praying, I asked the Lord, "How do people know You Lord?"
Images of pyramids, tower of Babel, tall churches, and rich possessions flooded my mind.
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| Tower of Babel |
And this was what I heard:
"For so many years, people have been striving to build those, thinking they can reach Me by doing so. Or if they have accepted Me, have used the talents I have given them and become successful, they think that's how it works to have a relationship with Me."
"Look down, not up, My child. That is how you know Me. Look to the ground. Look at the bottom of your heart."
After dropping off my child at school, I was so anxious to know more. The intensity of this truth growing wild, ready to explode like a volcano. The reality of what the Lord said. So opposite and so high from man's wisdom, yet so simple...
"Look down..."
"Bow down..."
"Stay humble..."
"Know humility..."
"That's how you know Me..."
Farmers must know that. As they grow things from the ground. The hard labor it takes for them to grow their crops. They need to be patient. They need to be strong. They must learn to trust and lean on God more as the seasons abruptly change, affecting the outcomes of their harvest. That they must be thankful no matter what the outcome of their harvest is. Learning to rely on God, strengthening their character through all the trials they go through from seeing their fields of grains or whatever crops they are growing...
I remember my grandmother's story about the rice, the staple food in Asian nations. That whenever the rice is coming out, growing up, and when the grains are becoming heavy, as they reach a higher height, the grains tend to fall over...
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| Rice grains bowing low to ground |
"Stay humble," that's what she told me.
Humbleness...Marked by meekness...A modesty in behavior, attitude and spirit...Not arrogant. Not proud...It is humility...
Joshua found himself bowing down to the Lord when he did not consult God and relied on his army's strength to defeat the small city of Ai. Instead, he lost. They tore their clothing and threw dust on their heads as they mourned before God. Like Joshua and his men, we should humble ourselves before God so we can hear His words. We should turn to God for His direction and help, not only when our lives fall apart, but much more when we are doing well in our lives.
How about Saul? Whose popularity made him proud and arrogant while David remained humble?
The tower of Babel? People built this tower as monument to their own greatness, something to be seen in the world, not to honor God. This may never be done again. But it is still possible that there is a hidden monument in our lives. Things that call achievements to ourselves, not to God. They may not be wrong to have them but when they replace God as number One in our hearts, then that's when it becomes wrong.
And Paul? The most influential among the apostles yet was deeply humble. Because he knew that his power and transformation came from God, not his own doing.
"Lord, I want to know You but how can I humble myself?"
"How can I learn humility?"
Humble people know...They live their lives knowing Christ, realizing their sinfulness and understand their limitations. They also recognize that their talents and gifts or strengths come from God and are willing to use them as Christ leads.
Knowing humility is having a life completely surrendered to Christ's Lordship. It's bowing down in front of Him. It's emptying one's heart so that it can be filled by His love.
"For the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored." - Luke 14:11
"Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing, he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross. Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." - Philippians 2:5-11
"For dust you are and to dust you will return." -Genesis 3:19 [emphasis mine]...
