Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Psalms 119:17-24
Ps 119:17-24 Gimel
Do good to your servant, and I will live; I will obey your word. Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law. I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me. My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times. You rebuke the arrogant, who are cursed and who stray from your commands. Remove from me scorn and contempt, for I keep your statutes. Though rulers sit together and slander me, your servant will meditate on your decrees. Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors.
Eph 4:1-4
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Learning to be humble is a tough road. It usually means getting knocked down off of our self-made pedestal, maybe even several times. It may mean that we face what others see as failure or we may succumb to some terrible temptation and find we are not as “righteous” as we thought we were. (But Paul did warn us and say that when we think we are standing, be careful or we will fall.)
Moses was humble. But he had failed on his first attempt to deliver the Israelites from their bondage by killing an Egyptian, so he then fled Egypt to escape the wrath of Pharaoh. As a trained general of the world’s largest army, and having been known as the son of royalty, he spent the next forty years keeping sheep that belonged to someone else, on a remote mountainside and wilderness.
What he learned was that life was not about Moses. His perceived strength and wisdom was not as great as he had thought. He also found out that he was dispensable and could be replaced by someone else. These are hard lessons to learn and can defeat our very spirit to the core. So, when God told him it was time to go back to Egypt and deliver his people, he said he was not able to do the task and was not a good speaker. I am sure he really believed this but then he learned it was not about him (or us) but about what God could do with him (or us).
O Lord God, help me be strong and courageous as I learn to stand in the strength of your might. Keep me from giving in to temptations and embolden me to do the things that you want me to do. Remind me that life is not about me as I continue to measure myself against you and Jesus, instead of others around me. Even as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, help me remember that no job, that needs to be done, is beneath me. Give me a pure heart with a kind and loving spirit so I will show your grace in my speech and actions. I pray in Jesus name.
Robert
