HUMILITY AND A PILE OF ROCKS
Humility starts with being confident and at peace with who God is and who you are. When your core source of identity is in achievement or the applause of man, you are on shaky ground because those things will come and go.
God’s word tells us to do things that constantly remind us of who He is and who we are because of Him. “Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed, and when you are getting up.” Deuteronomy 6:7.
God also tells us to make a pile of rocks to remember who He is. Yes, a pile of rocks, you read that correctly! For example, God told the nation of Israel to make piles of rocks as a reminder, to themselves and to future generations, of His goodness, deliverance, and protection.
We have a rock on the table next to our front door that says, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” Joshua 24:15. Every time our kids left the house when they lived at home, they saw the rock on their way out the door, and most of the time, they touched the rock. It was something we did to remind us of who we are and who God is. This is something small, but it was one thing we all saw and could all do.
"We put our hope in the LORD. He is our help and our shield. In Him, our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, LORD, for our hope is in you alone." Psalms 33:20–22
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10
The opposite of humility is pride, and pride is a pretty big deal in God’s eyes. The Bible uses words like “root of all evil,” “deadly,” and “rebellion against God” to describe pride and what it does to a person.
In Genesis 3, Satan first uses pride to manipulate Eve. He contradicted what God told Eve about eating the forbidden fruit, and he accused God of lying to her. Eve listened to him, and that’s when unbelief and doubt began to creep in, and eventually, she began to doubt the truthfulness and reliability of God. Eve then started thinking she was in control and that God could not be trusted. The more she allowed her mind to feel this way, the more prideful she became.
"But He gives more grace. Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:6-7
Humility is also essential when it comes to our relationship with others.
When we open our minds to untrue thoughts about God as Eve did, it’s not long before other relationships begin to suffer too. Pride can make us feel like we need to tell everyone how great we are or that everything would fall apart if it wasn’t for us. Satan can also try to twist it if we allow him to, and we can end up feeling like we are the problem, and everyone knows it.
The key to humility is to submit it ALL to God! EVERY. SINGLE. THING. Submit it to God!
When we ABIDE in God and open ourselves up to His transformative work, He can and will do good things in and through us.