Humility and the Word

I think that I am a leader. I think that I am a decision-maker, a mover and shaker, a thought leader. My pride tells me that I am influencing others and setting direction, but that is far from the truth.

I am influenced from so many directions. The media influences me. It nudges me what to buy, what TV and movies to watch and often what to think. Society trains me how to act, what fashion to wear and even what sports teams to cheer for. In the Summer I wear orange, in the winter it is purple and in March I am a Terps fan.

God knew this. He made us to be influenced, but he made us to be influenced by His Word. God made us so that we will listen, apply, absorb and change. But when I do that to anything but His Word, I perfer the divine plan. God gave this plan to the Kings of Israel to follow:

And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel (Deut 17:19-20)

He charged Joshua to meditate on His Word (Joshua 1:8) and David tells us the many blessings on attending to God's word (Psalm 1:2-3). There are many references to the benefits to God's Word. But let me cap it with this. The longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119, is a poem to the blessing and benefits of Bible intake.

Pride deceives me into thinking that I am the wind, the current, the tide and the compass. But in fact, humility tells me that I am not much more than a piece of drift wood, a toy sailboat. But if I am that piece of wood, I will choose that living breath that fills my sail.