Humility

Since this was our last lesson of the year, and since this is such a "fun" lesson topic, both of us gave the lesson, taking turns speaking.

Sylvia:

In my Bible reading a few weeks ago, I came across something I hadn’t noticed before: in Numbers 12:3 it says, “Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” Obviously this is really significant; more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth is really humble! So what results do we see of that in Moses’s life? Well, he, along with his brother, led an entire nation out from under the control of the most powerful ruler of their time. Then he led this nation for decades, set up an extremely long-lasting government, and is now considered one of the greatest Bible “heroes.” Not only that, but the Lord says in Numbers 12:6-8, “When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” No one else has ever spoken with God face to face since the garden of Eden. Evidently, there was something special about Moses. You know what it was?

It was this: Moses wasn’t special… but he knew that. Because Moses realized that he was not special and that none of these things were accomplished on his own strength and power, God was able to do amazing things through him!

Throughout the Bible – and the rest of History – there is a theme:

1.    someone receives a calling from God,

2.    they go do it, and

3.    they fall away from God (and sometimes repent later)

It happened to Solomon; it happened to David; it happened to many others… but it didn’t happen to Moses. Why? I think it’s because there’s another step in between #s 2 and 3: they become prideful because of “their” accomplishments. Moses didn’t have that problem except in one instance: where he struck the rock instead of speaking to it. He was punished for that, but since he repented and humbled himself, he didn’t actually fall away from God.

Jael:

There is nothing like teaching a lesson on humility to cause all the pride in the world to knock on your back door!  Wow!  I won't even begin to tell you all the opportunities I've thought that I've had to be prideful this past week!  Often, it's just a little something like, "You write much more spiritually enlightening lessons than Sylvia."  *facepalm*  Of course, as is VERY obvious with that last statement, most prideful thoughts that come into my brain are not true.  But once they come into your head, they are SO hard to get rid of!  My biggest problem is that, as soon as a prideful thought comes into my mind, I'm like, "Oh, darn!  A prideful thought is in my head.  Now I have to repent of it, and probably apologize to all the people involved."  But a few months ago, I was thinking about it, and I realized that just because a prideful thought tries to come into my head doesn't mean that I can let it in.  Just like with emails, you can see the subject line.  With prideful thoughts, you can see a glimpse of what's inside.  You can delete an email without looking at it.   That's what you need to do with prideful  thoughts.  Just say, "God!  Get rid of this thought!  I don't want to be prideful!"  And He does!  It's so amazing!  

So, just because you are tempted to think prideful thoughts doesn't mean you have to think them!

Sylvia:

Humility is one of the “big themes” in the Bible. Over and over, God’s word lists blessings that will be bestowed on the humble. God promises to “give favor” to the humble (Proverbs 3:34, James 5:6, 1 Peter 5:5), and to exalt them (Matthew 23:12, Luke 14:11). Wisdom (Proverbs 11:2) and honor (Proverbs 15:33) come with humility. Most importantly, God has promised to hear humble cries for forgiveness.  (2 Chronicles 7:14, 2 Chronicles 34:27, Psalm 51:17) As Jael said, many “heroes of Scripture” demonstrated traits of humility. John the Baptist, in addition to claiming that he was unworthy to untie Jesus’ sandals, said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Paul boasted about his weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). Jesus Himself exemplified humility (Philippians 2:6-8).

Jael:  

As I was trying to put all the things that have been on my heart into words, a friend suggested that I look at chapter 14 in THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS.  I want to read it aloud to you.  Do understand that this is written by a demon named Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood.  Wormwood has a pet human that Wormwood is trying to get into hell.  Since it is written from a demon's perspective, "the Enemy" is Jesus.  Now, let me read it to you.  I'll pause every now and again to add a comment or explain something, but we should be able to get through it pretty smoothly.  :-)

Sylvia:

One huge blessing of humility is how much it can improve relationships. We’re going to do some skits to illustrate this point:

(Break girls into groups and hand each one a “situation.” They get 5 minutes to plan and 2 minutes to act.)

Situation #1:

You accused your brother of stealing your cookie, then realized that you had eaten it yourself. Your brother is upset with you for falsely accusing him, and you know you should apologize.

Response #1: You apologize humbly.  

Response #2: You refuse to apologize or else apologize grudgingly.

Situation #2:

You play an instrument.  After a performance, someone comes up to you, and tells you what a good job you did.

Response #1:  You say, "Thank you.  Praise be to God!"  They walk away thinking about God.

Response: #2:  You say, "Aww...it wasn't really that good."  They say, "Oh, but it was."  You reply, "It wasn't actually.  I can do much better."  They walk away thinking about you and your talents that you don't think are very good.

Jael:

In its simplest form, humility is bringing praise to God.  A girl who is humble doesn't want to draw attention to herself.  She simply wants her life to draw attention to Jesus.  Humility doesn't mean bashing yourself.  Humility means giving praise where praise is due, which is not you!  :-P  As Philippians 2:3-4 says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."  Humility is the unabsorption with self.  Jesus was humble.  Follow Him.  Serve Him.  Then you will be truly humble.