Get Over Yourself

A few thoughts on my verse to memorize from last week:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

1 Chronicles 7:14 

After Solomon finished building the temple the Lord appeared to him and gave the people of Israel instructions on how to attain forgiveness.  He gave them four conditions they must follow in order to receive forgiveness for their sin.  Humble themselves, pray, seek the Lord's face, and turn from their wicked ways.

I don't think the Lord made any mistakes when he listed them in that order.  Why is "humble themselves" the Lord's first condition?  My guess is because it's the most difficult by a mile.  Once you can humble yourself, you're able to see sin for what it is and the rest of the conditions seem to be a natural progression after that.

When I think of what it means to humble one's self, all these beautiful words and phrases come to mind.  Meek.  A spirit of submission.  Not proud or arrogant.  Modest.  But really, the phrase that sticks out most often is "to just get over yourself!"

When I was in college I played basketball for four years. Going into my senior year, we were about to have a coaching change. I loved our old coach and wasn't sure what to expect from our new one. I do remember being optimistic about some getting some wins on the board. Well, much to my regret, the new coach and I took an immediate dislike to one another.  Turns out, I didn't like change so much.  My attitude toward her got me well acquainted with the bench.  And, as you can imagine, this only infuriated me more.

I'm not really a trouble-maker by nature, but I spent a lot of time in her office discussing my attitude that year. I wish I could tell you that I "just got over myself" but my attitude and bitterness consumed me for the entire season.  It literally did not cross my mind that I could be part of the problem.  Looking back I wish I would've had the spiritual maturity to see my sin for what it was.

I often think about how things might have turned out if I would have humbled myself and given the coach a chance.  Prayed about my situation instead of complaining to friends.  If I would've tried to seek the Lord's face, not do things on my own.  And then finally, turn from my wicked ways.  Hmmmm.....what might have happened?  I think at the very least, I wouldn't look back with regrets and shame.

We so often look at the Israelites and think how obvious their sins were.  It should've been easy for them to see that it was their own sin that was bringing affliction upon themselves and their land.  By the time of Solomon's reign they'd had plenty of practice on how to attain forgiveness.  But, all we need to do is look at our own lives and we will be able to understand that what sounds good on paper is stinking hard in real life.  Until you've humbled yourself, you can't see sin when it's staring you in the face.

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This Week's Verse:

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

John 8:12