Readings for today: Jeremiah 37-39, Psalms 23
There is a prayer I pray almost daily called the “Litany of Humility.” It’s been around for a few hundred years now and it serves as a great reminder as to the power of humility. It begins by asking the Lord Jesus - Himself meek and humble of heart - to hear the prayer. It then runs through a list of qualities for which we need deliverance. We need Jesus to deliver us from the desire to be esteemed, loved, extolled, praised, preferred to others, consulted, approved by our peers, etc. Next it turns to our fears. We need Jesus to deliver us from the fear of being humiliated, despised, rejected, forgotten, ridiculed, wronged, suspected, and having our reputation attacked. Finally, the prayer asks Jesus to grant us humility by reshaping our desires so that we would lift others up above ourselves. I thought about this prayer this morning as I read through what Jeremiah had to experience towards the end of his life.
Jeremiah has been faithful. He has faithful and boldly and courageously preached God’s Word at a tumultuous time in Israel’s history. The glory of Israel is fading. They have abandoned their faith in God. They have broken every commandment. They have become just like the pagan nations that surround them. Now the Babylonians are at the gate. Their doom is near. And Jeremiah finds himself in and out of several different prisons. His life is in danger. His enemies want to see him destroyed. He is accused of sedition and treason. But Jeremiah is humble. Gone are his protests against God. He no longer wrestles with his call. He has fully submitted to the Lord’s will at this point in his life. He will speak God’s Word no matter the cost. This is the power of humility. It’s reaching a point in your life where the world no longer has any hold on you. The powers of this world no longer have anything to offer you. You are beyond the reach of wealth, position, power, influence. You no longer desire to be esteemed, loved, or approved by others. You no longer fear for yourself. You know you are in God’s hands.
Where do you find yourself today? Are you a humble person or does pride still have a foothold in your life? I know as much I pursue humility and ask God for humility, I still have so far to go. I can always tell when I’m struggling with pride. The signs are obvious to me. I start to show off for others. I start to self-promote. I inflate my own sense of self-importance. I seek the approval of others. I look for ways to insert myself into positions of influence. These are things I must confess to the Lord but even more important is to continually ask the Spirit to set me free. To re-order my desires that I may experience the power of humility in my own life and fully surrender myself to Him.
Readings for tomorrow: Jeremiah 40-44, Psalms 24