This reading opens up with David describing his feelings with strong words. I'm sure all of us have faced a time in our lives that put us "in agony", in "shame", and caused us to "drench our beds in sobbing". We all face struggles and times of grief. They certainly do raise these feelings that David describes. The important thing is to cry out to God in these times, as David did. He will rescue us from the lowest pits we fall into in our lives, whether we put ourselves in there, or a circumstance did. Though it may not feel like He will in that moment, I can definitely testify that He turns our darkest of times into beautiful testimonies of His powerful work. Don't forget to reach out to Him in those times of darkness. It is so easy to be too prideful to ask for help. Humility is so important in times of trouble. When we are too proud nod try to handle things on our own, we find ourselves in even messier situations sometimes. Put aside your pride and cry out to God.
Reading: Matthew 5:43-6:24
Jesus is straight up preaching about humility here. Love your enemies? Don't tell everyone about your good deeds? Don't pray on and on in front of others to look good? Forgive those who have wronged me? Don't collect stuff for myself? What about this picture is so wrong in a society such as ours? We thrive on fame, success and possessions. Everything about Jesus' teaching would sound ridiculous to those foreign to Christianity and the Bible. Yet Jesus urges us to be humble. Why? Because without humility as the framework of how we carry ourselves, who will ever care about Jesus and Christianity? As Christians, we can't be acting like know-it-all, holier-than-thou people. That defeats the purpose, and leads others to wonder if you truly have the love and compassion of Christ in you. Jesus teaches us these things because that was what He is about.
Reading: Genesis 14:1-16:16
This section is quite an intriguing addition to Abraham's story. Abraham gets pretty real with God when he points out that he doesn't have a son. From here, God sure promises him a lot, including a son and more descendants than he can count stars in the sky. However, we see that Sarai tries to take matters into her own hands in giving her servant to Abraham to provide her a son. This ends up getting pretty messy, as the story will continue on. After Hagar is treated badly and runs away, she is comforted by God and told to humble herself and submit to Sarai's authority. God commands her to be humble and return to Sarai. From there, the story continues on with more blessings for both Abraham and Hagar. Sometimes God calls us to do things we don't want to do, like humble ourselves to someone who has mistreated us. Talk about tough, but necessary for His work to progress.
Where are you being called to humble yourself? Do you need to break down and just ask God to help you through a struggle? Is the media and society teaching you how to get a big head and use it to your advantage, when God is calling you to take humility to your advantage? What about humbling yourself before someone who has mistreated you? Maybe that will be the action to soften their heart? And if not, at least the ball's in their court. Pray on this, then do what God tells you.
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