Pride Prevention
How important is our humility to God?
Verse of the Day
‘So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.’
Today’s Devotional
The more I study pride, the more I am realizing just how important my humility is to God. And while I think a lack of pride is important for all believers, I believe that leaders have an even heavier burden when it comes to remaining humble. Their God-given role is one of leading others, teaching others, shepherding others, holding others accountable. A natural human response to that is to think we are doing all the work. We should then get some credit for our work. But God isn’t interested in natural human responses. God wants us to ALWAYS be pointing to Him.
The words of today’s verse were written by Paul, the author of most of the New Testament. We do not know the details of the “thorn” in Paul’s flesh. There are people who make guesses as to what it might have been, but if God wanted us to know for sure, He would have told us. What God did want us to know is that He will go to some pretty extreme lengths to keep us humble.
If you had an actual thorn in your physical flesh, you could still do your job, right? Probably so. But you would always be aware of the little (or big) stabs of pain from the thorn. Once you had accepted that the thorn could not be removed, you would live your life with constant reminders of the thorn’s presence. And with every stab of pain, there is a reminder of your need for God’s help. Therefore everything you accomplished, you would know that God was the source of your strength and success.
Having a thorn in the flesh might seem like punishment. But that’s not how God works.
After reading through the stories of pride in the Old Testament, a thorn in the flesh to keep me in the pocket of humility sounds like kindness. It sounds like a safeguard against what God knows will trip me up.
I don’t know what qualifies in your life as a possible thorn, but I know I have one. I have an issue in my life that keeps me aware of my constant need for God. When this issue first reared its head, it did not feel like kindness at all. Because it was a full blown infection in my life. After the pervasive infection was healed, the thorn remained. Its job is to remind me of my need for God. Every single day. And as long as I stay surrendered to my thorn and my constant need for God, the infection will not return, even though the thorn will remain. Maybe we each have some kind of thorn. Maybe for some of us it makes us bitter. Or makes us live a victim life. Or keeps us mired in self pity. Or makes us angry. But maybe… God can use anything to remind us of our need for humility and our constant need for Him.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Do you have a “thorn” or any kind of recurring issue?
How have you responded to your thorn?
What lengths has God gone to in order to keep you humble?
How did Paul handle his thorn? See 2 Corinthians 12:8-10
How can you change your perspective about any struggle you have in your life and look at it the way Paul looked at his thorn? Write out how you COULD look at this struggle as a way God is keeping you close to Him.
Where do you see any roots of pride in your heart?