10/15/06: Some thoughts on humility

I recently read the book Overcoming Life's Disappointments by Harold Kushner. (He also authored When Bad Things Happen to Good People). In it, he uses examples from the life of Moses to illustrate how we should respond to the inevitable tragedies of life. (I've had a few, how about you?)

The Bible describes Moses as "very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." (Num. 12:3) Interesting. If God used me to part the Red Sea, speak to a rock to bring forth water in a desert, lead a multitude out of slavery and into a land that He had promised, I wonder how meek I would be? (Probably not very. Maybe that's why He hasn't used me for anything so great!) How was Moses able to be so humble when he was so greatly used by God?
We often think of humility as being deferential or submissive. Neither of these seem to apply to Moses. He was certainly not afraid to stand up to Pharoah or to workers of iniquity in the congregation of Israel. Perhaps our modern concept of humility is skewed. Kushner offers a bit of a different view of humility:

"Humility is the realization that not everything that happens in life is all about you. Things may work out well, but you may not have been the primary reason for their success. Things may fail, but the failure may not have been your fault. If it rains on the day of your daughter's wedding or on every day of your beach vacation, that is just weather, and farmers and gardeners may in fact be grateful for it. It was not some cosmic conspiracy to deprive you of happiness.

"Humility means recognizing that you are not God and it is not your job or responsibility to run the world. Some people are dissappointed to learn that; most mentally healthy people are immensely relieved. Moses was able to surmount the problems and frustrations in his life because he understood that he was not God and could not be expected to be, and that God's plan for humanity did not depend solely on him."

Wow! I am reminded of an oft-quoted maxim in my church: "A man who comes to the Lord must realize two things. # 1: There is a God...#2: I am not Him!"

We often look at humility only from the standpoint of not getting a big head when things are going good, but when things don't go good, it is actually pretty egotistical to blame yourself when it might not have been something over which you had any power at all. Sometimes we get all bent out of shape over things in our lives and wonder why God is doing this to us. Maybe we're not really that important! It may just be something that is common to man. Or it may be that God is using it to work in our lives. He does know what He is doing! Perhaps allowing us to go through some trials is what we need to make us who He wants us to be.

We human beings have a tendency to blame ourselves when things go wrong and take credit when they go right. Both cases are showing a lack of humility. Let's let Him run His world, and let's do what we can to adjust our lives to be in line with His plan!