It used to scare me to pray for humility. I imagined God would answer that prayer by, well, humiliating me! And all I could think of were the creative ways God might choose to do that. So in my wisdom :), I decided it was best to bypass prayers for humility. Despite Scripture’s clear warning that pride goes before the fall, I decided that the best way to avoid “falling” was by controlling God through my prayer life. I reasoned that if l skipped the “dangerous” prayers, (aka: prayers for humility), then surely I could hold onto...well, my pride!

Surprise, surprise, I was wrong. And God was right. And praise God for His trustworthiness, because God also says that it is the humble who receive His grace! Truth be told, I don’t even take my next breath without grace, grace, and more grace.

Honestly, the Bible is pretty clear on the matter of humility. If we want to “win” at life, then having humility is a non-negotiable. The more I read the Old Testament the more I realize that ALL the advantages go “team humble”. If it weren’t so tragic, it’d almost be funny to read Israel’s history. Somehow God’s people can’t seem to get the memo that it is ALWAYS their pride that leads to their destruction. Time and time again in their pride, Israel abandons Yahweh, the One who rescued them from slavery, and instead chooses to set up camp with the worthless idols of their culture. Reading the OT sometimes feels like listening to the same record on repeat. But it sure makes Jesus beautiful! How precious is the flow that makes us white as snow and rescues us from the slavery of our pride!

In conclusion, I don’t fear praying for humility anymore! In fact, it is my deceptive pride that I fear! Because, just like Israel, I’ve seen that God will resist my pride every time. But without fail, when I humble myself and obey His Word, He unleashes mounds of grace and power in my life. In fact, I’d go as far to say that it’s only by some measure of humility that I am kept in my right mind. Without humility, I give way too much importance to my own thoughts, I turn into an anxious control freak, and instead of killing the sin in my life, I settle for postponing it. Pride causes me to forget that He is the Creator and I am the creature. That’s why, in a world out of control, humble faith is my only ticket to sanity. It is only the humble who receive the grace to trust that God is who He says He is and will one day do all that He says He will do. Until then, I’ll be praying for humility ;).