Posts Tagged: the humility of God

“The Humility of God”

On May 9, 2019 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“You have given me the shield of your salvation,

and your right hand supported me,

and your gentleness made me great.” (Psalm 18:35, English Standard Version)

My pastor preached a sermon on pride this past Sunday.  I can’t speak for others, but his sermons almost always give something to think about and act upon for at least the week.  That’s about as long as I can concentrate on anything, so I do need to attend church at least once a week.

And then, in my Scripture reading today, I stumbled across this verse in Psalm 18.  (Psalm 18 is a royal psalm.  It is very similar to 2 Samuel 22.)  And in this royal psalm, David proclaims that God’s gentleness has made him great.  The word translated “gentleness” is a Hebrew word that is usually translated “humility.”  Apparently, most of the translators did not have the courage to speak of God’s humility.  God’s humility seems to be an odd concept to introduce in the midst of a psalm which is so filled with God’s power and God’s empowerment of King David.  While there are some translational problems here, I suspect that the main problem is that we simply find it difficult to think that the powerful and empowering God could be humble.

A good friend of mine, a Catholic priest, studied for a while in Italy.  Since he was already ordained, he was asked to go to small group of nuns, The Sisters of Charity, and celebrate mass occasionally.  On two occasions, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was present.

I asked my friend if he was a little nervous during his homily.  He said that he couldn’t remember a single thing he had said.  But then he added, “But I’ll never forget something Mother Teresa said on the way out of church.  She said, ‘You know, I’m now so much impressed with the power of God as I am with His humility.’ ”

When you turn to the New Testament, you find Jesus who was most certainly a great teacher and prophet.  Some of us (I among them) believe that he was actually God with skin on, and with skin in the game.  He said,

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 English Standard Version)

Jesus was a burning, laser-focused point of humility.  He called his disciples to follow him, to learn from him, to be like him.  It is God’s humility that makes us great.  It is also God’s humility that gives us the pattern to follow to help other people to become great.

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“WHEN GOD ISN’T IN THE PICTURE”

On June 1, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I receive a daily e mail from Loyola Press entitled “3-Minute Retreat.”  (You may access today’s meditation at http://www.loyolapress.com/retreats/like-sheep-with-a-shepherd-start-retreat, accessed 06-01-2017.)  Each meditation has a brief passage from the Bible, a few thought-provoking comments, a couple of questions, and a closing prayer.  It also has a background picture.

The Scripture today was Luke 12:32.  “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.”

Part of the comment from the author of this meditation is as follows: “We are created and sustained by a loving God, on whom we depend as sheep on a shepherd.  With our generous God as shepherd, we have no more reason to fear.”

Luke 12:32 is a wonderfully comforting and energizing verse, and the comment was right on target.  However, it was the juxtaposition with the background picture that especially struck me this morning.  There is no shepherd anywhere in the picture!

And that is the way feels most of the time, isn’t it?  God seems very absent from our daily lives.  There is grass, sky, hill, other sheep, but no Shepherd.

However, neither cameras nor our eyes can catch all that is there.  God is indeed working in our lives, though we rarely suspect it.  He is indeed pleased to give us his kingdom.

In the background picture, one sheep out of the approximately fifty-seven sheep is looking directly at the camera.  Most of the time, I am like the fifty-six.  I’m eating, looking at other sheep, and doing whatever else it is that we human sheep do.

Perhaps the person who is taking the picture is the shepherd.  Perhaps our Great Shepherd is taking the picture that we call “our lives”.  Perhaps we are the subject of God’s shutter art.  Perhaps God is too humble to be very obviously present in our lives.

It may be that you and I could choose to look up every once in a while, and look in the direction of the One who is taking the picture.

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