Humility is Hard

Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?” 2 Samuel 7:18

When I meet patients struggling with addiction, it’s often easy to predict who’s going to do well and who’s going to do poorly. Those who are at the end of themselves and who are willing to embrace humility, doing whatever it takes, will do well. Those however, who already know it all and have no intention of surrendering their right to do as they please, are likely going to relapse very quickly.

I’ve seen this in my own life. When I first tried to get sober, I was more interested in my own dignity and pride than in my recovery. So, I didn’t keep that recovery long. Then when life fell apart, I was humbled so much that I became willing to do whatever God asked. Now, after 10 plus years of recovery though, it’s easy to once again return to confidence in myself. I’m quite the big deal. God is lucky to have me. Daily then, I must go before God, making myself assume my proper position before him.

This is the posture illustrated by David in today’s passage. In the story, God spoke through the prophet Nathan, telling David that he loved him and that his kingdom would endure forever. In response to God’s blessing upon him, David didn’t assume that he must be quite the big deal for God to have blessed him so. You’re lucky to have me. Rather, David humbled himself before God. Who am I, O Lord GOD that you have brought me thus far? David recognized his true relation to God and assumed the appropriate posture of humility before him.

Humility is always a good choice, but for many of us, it simply isn’t natural. Even if we believe in God, most of us struggle to humble ourselves enough to follow him. We would never say it out loud, but we act as if we were god, following our own will in everything. As Christians though, it’s our job to daily abandon ourselves to follow Christ (Luke 9:23). Again though, this simply isn’t natural. Without even thinking about God’s will, most of us just get up and go about our day doing what we want. To truly humble ourselves to follow Christ would be tremendously disruptive to our routine – loving those around us can be a lot of work. If we claim to follow Christ though, then daily, we must go before God, asking not for our will to be done, but to know his will. Then, we must do it. Humble servant is always our proper posture towards God.