Deal With Yourself
Proverbs 30:21-23
21
There are three things that make the earth tremble—
no, four it cannot endure:
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a slave who becomes a king,
an overbearing fool who prospers,
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a bitter woman who finally gets a husband,
a servant girl who supplants her mistress.
I love the sayings of Agur in Proverbs 30, they feel a little bit mysterious. Kind of like the author God used to write them. Although, the reality is the proverbs are not as cryptic as they seem, it’s the plain and simple wisdom of God. In order to receive God’s wisdom, we must first be willing to recognize our need for humility. Agur goes as far to say, in the 2nd and 3rd verse; “I am too stupid to be human, and I lack common sense. I have not mastered human wisdom, nor do I know the Holy One.”
Some of us really need to apply these verses to our own hearts.
It’s true, all of us are in a process and are learning to know the “Holy One” more intimately. We grow in Jesus by recognizing our human condition, and then gazing upon His perfection. As I see who He is, I can let go of things in myself that are not likened to His image. As I become more like Him, I find my true self. As I grow in him, and consequently out of my brokenness, I am better positioned to walk in the things He has called me to. This is what real humility looks like. Humility is honoring God and saying, “Yes” to the great things He has called you to, with a “whatever it takes attitude”. While saying, “No” to things in you, that are roadblocking your growth in Him and His call on your life. Greatness in the Kingdom of God comes from submitting yourself, and the things you're responsible for, to His will.
If you don’t believe He has called you to great things, then you need to stop reading this blog, and begin to read and believe what Scripture says about your life.
Whether you're called to be a CEO of a fortune 500 company, or to be a sanitation technician, your role is always to build the Kingdom of God. That's what makes you great in God’s eyes. To do this, you need wisdom that can only be found in humbling ourselves before God. This is how God prepares His people for greatness.
This what Agur is alluding to in verses 21-23. You can’t walk in the great call God has put on your life, until you learn to humble yourself and deal with the parts of you that are in conflict with God's Kingdom. When you live as an orphan defined by brokenness, success is as dangerous as swimming with hungry sharks. Success galvanizes unresolved brokenness within us. Success turns your hidden brokenness into a fire that consumes you and those around you, that your call directly affects. The world will never be able to endure what you won't deal with within yourself.
The wisest thing you can do to prepare yourself for what God wants to do through you, is to wage war against your sin. Allow the Holy Spirit to heal you from wounds and traumas, that are causing you to look more like an orphan, than a born again son or daughter of the Most High God. For instance, did you know that 78% of pro athletes become completely broke after three years of retirement? That’s a staggering statistic that paints a very real picture. Coming into large amounts of money, in a short amount of time, does not fix your problems. It actually can do the opposite. Instant success creates a false sense of security. It allows us to ignore some of the broken things in our lives. We should be focused on healing. In turn, that brokenness only increases and we typically end up worse off than where we started.
When we don’t allow ourselves to be humbled and transformed before God, we pervert greatness and success. It becomes a tool of destruction wielded by our flesh. A slave who becomes a ruler without learning how to act like a true king, rules his kingdom as a slave. A fool with prosperity is just feeding his/her prosperity to their foolishness.
If you were bitter before getting married, getting married won’t change that. You will simply create a bitter marriage. Whatever position you gain through striving and manipulation, you will have to keep through striving and manipulation. The point is, getting what you want does not fix what’s broken within you. It actually makes it worse. Success is a time bomb of destruction for those who are unwilling to humble themselves and grow in God’s wisdom.
Is it okay to resign from the greatness God has called you to, and be complacent with our brokenness? No, that would be rebellion. The only option is to wage war with the things within us that don’t look like God, so we can be prepared and ready for every good work the Father has planned for us.
Here is a quick prayer that I have begun praying over my own life…
“Holy Spirit, please reveal and confront anything in me that is keeping me from looking more like Jesus. Please help me, and give me the grace to keep growing in you. Help me to be thankful for what you're doing and content with your Presence first and foremost, so that I may be ready for all that You have called me to. Amen.”
Praying this, as well as making space for Him to speak, confront and heal me is the first step of being ready for His plans for my life. I’ll never be perfect, but I refuse to be consumed by my brokenness!
God is calling us all to great things in His Kingdom. There is no doubt about that! Let’s receive Agur’s proverbs and prepare ourselves for God’s great call!
Love,
Pastor John
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