Proud Works vs. Humble Faith

“On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’” (Matthew 7:22)

Consider the difference between a heart of “faith” and a heart of “works.”

The heart of works gets satisfaction from the ego-boost of accomplishing something in its own power. It will attempt to scale a vertical rock face, or take on extra responsibilities at work, or risk life in a combat zone, or agonize through a marathon, or perform religious fasting for weeks — all for the satisfaction of conquering a challenge by the force of its own will and the stamina of its own body.

The heart with a works-orientation may also go in another direction and express its love of independence and self-direction and self-achievement by rebelling against courtesy and decency and morality (Galatians 5:19–21). But it’s the same self-determining, self-exalting works-orientation — whether it is being immoral or mounting a crusade against immoral behavior. The common denominator is self-direction, self-reliance, and self-exaltation. In all of this, the basic satisfaction of the works-orientation is the savor of being an assertive, autonomous, and, if possible, triumphant self.

The heart of faith is radically different. Its desires are no less strong as it looks to the future. But what it desires is the fullest satisfaction of experiencing all that God is for us in Jesus.

If “works” wants the satisfaction of feeling itself overcome an obstacle, “faith” savors the satisfaction of feeling God overcome an obstacle. Works longs for the joy of being glorified as capable, strong, and smart. Faith longs for the joy of seeing God glorified for his capability and strength and wisdom and grace.

In its religious form, works accepts the challenge of morality, conquers its obstacles through great exertion, and offers the victory to God as a payment for his approval and recompense. Faith, too, accepts the challenge of morality, but only as an occasion to become the instrument of God’s power. And when the victory comes, faith rejoices that all the glory and thanks belong to God.

John Piper 

What Kind of Prayer Pleases God?

“This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2)

The first mark of the upright heart is that it trembles at the word of the Lord.

Isaiah 66 deals with the problem of some who worship in a way that pleases God and some who worship in a way that doesn’t. Verse 3 describes the wicked who bring their sacrifices, “He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man.” Their sacrifices are an abomination to God — on a par with murder. Why?

In verse 4 God explains, “When I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen.” Their sacrifices were abominations to God because the people were deaf to his voice. But what about those whose prayers God heard? God says in verse 2, “This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

I conclude from this that the first mark of the upright, whose prayers are a delight to God, is that they tremble at God’s word. These are the people to whom the Lord will look.

So, the prayer of the upright that delights God comes from a heart that at first feels precarious in the presence of God. It trembles at the hearing of God’s word, because it feels so far from God’s ideal and so vulnerable to his judgment and so helpless and so sorry for its failings.

This is just what David said in Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” The first thing that makes a prayer acceptable to God is the brokenness and humility of the one who prays. They tremble at his word.

John Piper 

 

Handling Disagreements with Grace

“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” JAMES 1:19

 

PONDER THIS

Sometimes Joyce and I will be in a disagreement. We’ll be sitting at the kitchen table, and it will get tense. She’ll say to me, “Adrian, you’re wrong.”

“Not me.”

“Yes, you’re wrong.”

“No, I’m not wrong.”

One, two, three, four, and on and on the conversation goes. Often, one of us will say, “Well, let’s just stop for a while.” I go in my study and try and prepare a sermon. Ha! Try to read. Try to do something else. But I can’t do it. So I say, “Lord, did You see what went on in there?” He says, “Yeah, you were wrong.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you! You were wrong!”

“Okay, Lord.”

And I have to go back: “Honey, I was wrong. Forgive me.” She says, “I forgive you.” And we hug and kiss and make up. Prayer will do that. Be honest with God and let Him speak to you. He will show you what is true.

How have you seen the value of prayer in tense moments?

How have you seen God restore your relationships when you have come to Him in prayerful humility?

PRACTICE THIS

Set aside time today to pray and ask God to reveal any wrongs for which you need to apologize.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Don’t Be Like the Mule

Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. (Psalm 32:9)

Picture God’s people as a farmyard of all sorts of animals. God cares for his animals, he shows them where they need to go, and supplies a barn for their protection.

But there is one beast on this animal farm that gives God an awful time, namely, the mule. He’s stupid and he’s stubborn and you can’t tell which comes first — stubbornness or stupidity.

Now the way God likes to get his animals into the barn for their food and shelter is by teaching them that they all have a personal name and then calling them by name. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go” (Psalm 32:8).

But the mule will not respond to that sort of direction. He is without understanding. So God gets in his pick-up truck and goes out in the field, puts the bit and bridle in the mule’s mouth, hitches it to the truck, and drags him stiff-legged and snorting all the way into the barn.

That is not the way God wants his animals to come to him for blessing and protection.

One of these days it is going to be too late for that mule. He’s going to get clobbered with hail and struck by lightning, and when he comes running, the barn door is going to be shut.

Therefore, don’t be like the mule. “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle.”

Instead, let everyone who is godly come to God in prayer at a time when he may be found (Psalm 32:6).

The way not to be a mule is to humble ourselves, to come to God in prayer, to confess our sins, and to accept, as needy little farmyard chicks, the direction of God into the barn of his protection and provision.

John Piper 

The Barricade God Builds Against the Proud

 “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’” 1 PETER 5:5

 

PONDER THIS

When people are filled with pride, do you know what happens to them? They do not receive the grace of God because God gives grace to the humble. When a person is full of pride, grace is withdrawn, and God sets up a barricade against that person. God resists the proud. Now that’s bad enough, but go down to verse eight. First Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Can you imagine an individual like this? Devoid of the grace of God; God resisting him; Satan circling to devour him. That’s what pride does. Nothing puts a person more out of the reach of Satan than genuine humility.

How can you know if you are driven by pride or humility?

How does following Jesus lead us to humility?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider the areas of pride in your life. Take intentional and prayerful steps toward humility in these places today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Most Dangerous Way to Begin a New Year

“Then the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, ‘Why have you given us only one lot and one share to inherit, since we are a great people, inasmuch as the Lord has blessed us until now?’” JOSHUA 17:14

 

PONDER THIS

The people of Israel were living in self-confidence. They were boasting about their greatness. The same thing is true about so many of us. Pride is bad enough, but pride that lifts its head from the mire of failure is terrible. These people were failing to be, do, have, and say what God would have them be, do, have, and say, and they were saying, “Look how great we are.”

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). There’s nothing that will put you more out of the reach of the devil than genuine humility. But if you’re proud, you’re going to find God as an enemy. The Bible says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). And what is grace? Grace is the desire and the ability to do the will of God.

What are some ways you are tempted to live in confidence in yourself instead of in God?

How have you experienced the reality that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble?

PRACTICE THIS

Today is the start of a new year. You are likely taking up new practices and setting new goals. Assess your goals for this year through the lens of dependence on self or dependence on the Lord. Take steps to rely further on the Lord this year.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Strength of a Gentle Father

“Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.” TITUS 3:1-2

 

PONDER THIS

Why do some children adore and worship their dads, and others hate their dads? What is the difference? There’s one characteristic that I’ve found in almost all dads whose children love and follow them: They’re gentle, and it starts when they’re children.

Imagine walking out of your house, and there on the front porch is a guy three times your size. You’re looking at his kneecaps. He has a voice like thunder, and he begins to tell you what to do. If he’s that big and sounds like that, one thing you hope is that he’s gentle, don’t you? That’s what children want out of their dads, somebody who’s gentle. They want a dad they can look up to in love.

One key to this that is so hard to do is to cultivate transparency. Let your children know of your fears, your joys, your disappointments, your failures, and your goals. Show them that you’re not perfect. Kids don’t expect perfection; they just don’t want you to be a phony. In gentleness and openness, we show others the heart of God.

Who has exemplified gentleness to you? What have you learned from them?

When is it challenging for you to be gentle? What is hard about it?

PRACTICE THIS

Confess and repent of the times you have not responded gently.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Be Real

 

“I cried out to You, O Lord: I said, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name; the righteous shall surround me, for You shall deal bountifully with me.’”

PSALM 142:5-7

 

PONDER THIS

What is the lesson we all need no matter what is going on in our lives? The lesson we need each day whether we are young or old? The lesson is this: love Jesus with all your heart.

If you’re weak, say, “Lord, help me.” If you can’t give all to the Lord Jesus Christ and haven’t given all to the Lord Jesus, say, “Lord, I want to. Please help me.” He hears you; He will help you. Don’t pretend a devotion that you do not have. Say, “Lord, here’s where I am. Here’s where I want to be. Help me to grow.” God will start with you where you are and bring you to where you need to be. Just don’t stonewall God. Don’t be a big pretender. Don’t lie to the Holy Spirit. Don’t be superficial. Don’t be hypocritical. Be real. God loves you. God will help you. God will strengthen you. God will guard you. God will guide you.

I’ll tell you one thing, and I can say this sincerely, knowing God is listening. I’m real. I know I’m not all I ought to be, but I’m real. You say, “You’re boasting.” No, I’m not. I’d be a fool to stand in the pulpit and not be real. Be real. Let God start with you where you are. And God will bring you where He wants you.

When have you struggled to be real with God? What made it difficult?

Are you where you want to be in your faith right now? Why or why not?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to a mentor about this important daily lesson. Discuss what it looks like to be real with God on a regular basis and trust Him with the growth in your heart.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Humility Must Come Before Revival

“Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side.” EZEKIEL 47:1-2

 

PONDER THIS

If we want revival, we first need two things: humility and holiness.

We need to first humble ourselves before God. Many of us sit in church high-minded, unbent, unbroken, and somehow thinking we’re doing God a service or favor by being here. In our churches, we talk about our buildings, programs, music, preaching, teaching, and all of that, but it does no good without a brokenness before God. We need to have humility in our hearts.

We also need to embrace holiness. In Ezekiel, the river flows from under the threshold and past the altar (v. 1). The altar was the place where the blood was shed—the place for the sacrifice of sin, the place of cleansing. There can never be any true revival when God’s people have unconfessed, unrepented sin in their hearts and in their lives. There can never be true revival until we repent. Not everybody will be attracted by your life if you’re filled with the Spirit, but I will guarantee you that if you get on fire for Jesus Christ—if a humble, holy flow of living water runs through you and flows down into the depressed, dry, and deadly places of your own heart—others will see the work of God in you.

When was the last time you humbled yourself before God?

What are you struggling with that you need to bring before God in humility?

PRACTICE THIS

With a humble heart, bring before God the things with which you are struggling.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

True Humility Displays Itself Through Service

“And when they had come to him, he said to them: ‘You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.’”

ACTS 20:18-21

 

PONDER THIS

Are you going to be missed when you leave? We all leave one day. You may move out of your city, or you’ll go by death, but everyone is going. When you go, what difference will it make? Is your life going to have any kind of an impact?

Don't get the idea that humility means not loving yourself. The Bible says we’re to love others as we love ourselves (Mark 12:31). And if you don't love you, you don't know how to love me. Humility is an honest estimation of yourself that says what God says about you and results primarily in serving. A humble person is a person who serves others. When God measures a person’s life, He does not measure by how many servants the person has, but by how many others the person serves. There are many whose lives are going to amount to little more than a zero with the edges trimmed off because they’ve never learned to serve. 

You need to find a place of service in your church, community, or home, and you need to request, “Lord God, make me a servant.” Unless you’re a servant you’re not going to be truly missed when you are gone.

Who is an example of humility in your life?

What place does service have in your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Write out the different areas you serve right now and consider how you could grow in serving others.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You Clothed with Humility or Pride?

PRAY OVER THIS

“But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?’” Acts 5:1-3

 

PONDER THIS

What can we learn from Ananias and Sapphira’s sin? It was rooted in pride. They wanted to be praised. They gave to be seen of men. They weren’t giving to Jesus; they were giving to themselves. When there is pride in your heart, you are a sitting duck for the devil. Pride, more than anything else, makes you putty in the devil’s hands.

Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:5, “Be clothed with humility.” We are to wear humility like clothes. Then he said in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

There is nothing that puts you further out of the devil’s reach than genuine humility. And there is nothing that makes you more susceptible to the machinations of the devil than pride. When you have pride in your heart, you share the very nature of the devil. Ananias and Sapphira allowed pride to seep into their hearts, just as pride came into the devil’s heart so long ago. Let us guard against making the same mistake.

What are some signs of pride you can identify in your life?

Who has been an example of genuine humility to you?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to someone who has been an example of humility to you; ask your friend to share how to depend on Jesus for this.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Don’t Harden Your Heart to God

PRAY OVER THIS

“For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollution of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them.” 2 Peter 2:18-21

 

PONDER THIS

You can become skilled at anything you practice enough. If you reject the Gospel long enough, you become a professional Gospel rejecter. Your heart can get hard.

Walking in the woods, you may have seen a charred, black stump. What happened to it? There was a time somebody came in and cut that pine tree down. Then, there comes a fire in the brush, and when the fire comes roaring by, that stump blazes and catches fire and blazes brightly. But then what happens? After a while, it burns itself out and it becomes charred and blackened. It may catch on fire again a time or two after that but there will come a time when no matter how hot the fire is, it just jumps over the stump. There’s not a glow. You know why? It is charred; it is hardened; it is burned over.

I sat in a powerful service when I saw God move, but others sat there and didn’t feel one thing. Their hearts were charred and hardened. They were like the stump that was burnt over. The Bible warns us: If you can hear God’s voice, don’t harden your heart!

What does it look like to listen to God’s voice?

What is something God has recently prompted you about that you have ignored?

PRACTICE THIS

Repent for an area where you have not listened to God’s prompting. Ask Him to soften your heart once again.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You Unwilling to Wait?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” 1 Peter 5:6

 

PONDER THIS

Over and over again in the Bible, we are told to wait upon the Lord. When you don’t understand, don’t be unwilling to wait. A preacher who was in a hard spot said to me, “I know that God put me here. I just wonder if He remembers where He put me.” God knows where you are. The very hairs of your head are numbered. And the God that was with Joseph when he was a lad, the God who was with Joseph when he was serving in Potiphar’s house, was the God who was with Joseph when he languished, forgotten in prison.

God has His schedule. When you don’t understand, don’t demand to understand, don’t fail to be faithful, don’t bow to bitterness. God is never late, but He’s never ahead of time. It’s like the sun coming up. One thing about the sun coming up is you can’t hurry it and you can’t stop it. That’s the way God is. God is always on time.

Wait on God. Don’t be unwilling to wait. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. In due time, He’ll lift you up. When you don’t understand, don’t get feverish. Wait on Him.

When have you struggled to trust God’s timing?

What are some reasons we often want to rush God?

PRACTICE THIS

Make a list of things that you have been impatient about. Pray over that list and ask God to help you trust His timing with those things.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Jesus Came in Humility

PRAY OVER THIS

“Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” Isaiah 53:1-3

 

PONDER THIS

When you think about God coming to Earth through Jesus, you might expect He would come in a jeweled chariot. But how did He arrive? He was born as a baby in Bethlehem—a small, insignificant town. You might expect He would have been raised in a royal court, but He was raised as a carpenter’s son in another obscure, hated village called Nazareth. You might expect that Jesus would come with wealth, opulence, and power, but He walked about in sandal shoes with no home and no place to lay His head.

The natural eye looks at Jesus and asks, “What’s so great about Him?” If we started to talk about His life completely, we never would be able to finish. There are so many miracles. He went about doing good and showed great love in the way that He lived. He was not without sorrow, but He was without sin. The virtuous life of the Lord Jesus is nothing glamorous at first glance, but it is full of glory and worthy of praise.

What are some things that come to mind when you think about who Jesus is?

What does Jesus’s life on Earth teach you about humility? Where do you struggle with humility?

PRACTICE THIS

Think about someone you have seen exhibit humility and service. Ask that person to share how he or she came to that point.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Do You Pray with Humility?

PRAY OVER THIS

“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” James 1:19

 

PONDER THIS

Sometimes Joyce and I will be in a disagreement. We’ll be sitting at the kitchen table, and it will get tense. She’ll say to me, “Adrian, you’re wrong.”

“Not me.” 

“Yes, you’re wrong.” 

“No, I’m not wrong.”

One, two, three, four, and on and on the conversation goes. Often, one of us will say, “Well, let’s just stop for a while.” I go in my study and try and prepare a sermon. Ha! Try to read. Try to do something else. But I can’t do it. So I say, “Lord, did You see what went on in there?” He says, “Yeah, you were wrong.”

“Me?” 

“Yeah, you! You were wrong!”

“Okay, Lord.”

And I have to go back: “Honey, I was wrong. Forgive me.” She says, “I forgive you.” And we hug and kiss and make up. Prayer will do that. Be honest with God and let Him speak to you. He will show you what is true.

How have you seen the value of prayer in tense moments?

How have you seen God restore your relationships when you have come to Him in prayerful humility?

PRACTICE THIS

Set aside time today to pray and ask God to reveal any wrongs for which you need to apologize.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Don’t Be Like the Mule

Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. (Psalm 32:9)

Picture God’s people as a farmyard of all sorts of animals. God cares for his animals, he shows them where they need to go, and supplies a barn for their protection.

But there is one beast on this animal farm that gives God an awful time, namely, the mule. He’s stupid and he’s stubborn and you can’t tell which comes first — stubbornness or stupidity.

Now the way God likes to get his animals into the barn for their food and shelter is by teaching them that they all have a personal name and then calling them by name. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go” (Psalm 32:8).

But the mule will not respond to that sort of direction. He is without understanding. So God gets in his pick-up truck and goes out in the field, puts the bit and bridle in the mule’s mouth, hitches it to the truck, and drags him stiff-legged and snorting all the way into the barn.

That is not the way God wants his animals to come to him for blessing and protection.

One of these days it is going to be too late for that mule. He’s going to get clobbered with hail and struck by lightning, and when he comes running, the barn door is going to be shut.

Therefore, don’t be like the mule. “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle.”

Instead, let everyone who is godly come to God in prayer at a time when he may be found (Psalm 32:6).

The way not to be a mule is to humble ourselves, to come to God in prayer, to confess our sins, and to accept, as needy little farmyard chicks, the direction of God into the barn of his protection and provision.

John Piper 

The Need for Humility

PRAY OVER THIS

“Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’”

1 Peter 5:5

 

PONDER THIS

When people are filled with pride, do you know what happens to them? They do not receive the grace of God because God gives grace to the humble. When a person is full of pride, grace is withdrawn, and God sets up a barricade against that person. God resists the proud. Now that’s bad enough, but go down to verse eight. First Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Can you imagine an individual like this? Devoid of the grace of God; God resisting him; Satan circling to devour him. That’s what pride does. Nothing puts a person more out of the reach of Satan than genuine humility.

How can you know if you are driven by pride or humility?

How does following Jesus lead us to humility?

PRACTICE THIS

Consider the areas of pride in your life. Take intentional and prayerful steps toward humility in these places today.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Are You a Cardboard Christian?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.”

Matthew 23:27

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

I read an article one time about Art Linkletter, who was a highly respected and famous TV personality for many decades. Art Linkletter said he was a professing Christian. But one day he had a great crisis in his life. He really needed help.

He was meeting with some young people who were on-fire Christians. There was no pretense with them, no holds barred. They were in a hotel lobby in San Francisco. It came time to pray, and those young people got down on their knees in that hotel lobby. Being a recognized public figure, Art Linkletter said, "I really felt funny about getting down on my knees in a public place like that. But I had such a need of God. I realized all this time I had not been a true Christian. I was a cardboard Christian. I threw all of that away, humbled myself before God, got on my knees, broke through to God, and met reality."

Reality is what this world hungers for. It’s sick and tired of make-believe, cardboard Christians. Reality, not hypocrisy, is the greatest need in the church today. The greatest argument for Christ—and the greatest argument against Christ—is the life of a Christian!

ACTION POINT

There always have been hypocrites. There always will be. The Lord Jesus Christ devoted the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew to the problem of hypocrites. But how wonderful it is to know Jesus Christ. Serve Him and love Him with reality in your heart and life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Don’t Be Like the Mule

Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. (Psalm 32:9)

Picture God’s people as a farmyard of all sorts of animals. God cares for his animals, he shows them where they need to go, and supplies a barn for their protection.

But there is one beast on this animal farm that gives God an awful time, namely, the mule. He’s stupid and he’s stubborn and you can’t tell which comes first — stubbornness or stupidity.

Now the way God likes to get his animals into the barn for their food and shelter is by teaching them that they all have a personal name and then calling them by name. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go” (Psalm 32:8).

But the mule will not respond to that sort of direction. He is without understanding. So God gets in his pick-up truck and goes out in the field, puts the bit and bridle in the mule’s mouth, hitches it to the truck, and drags him stiff-legged and snorting all the way into the barn.

That is not the way God wants his animals to come to him for blessing and protection.

One of these days it is going to be too late for that mule. He’s going to get clobbered with hail and struck by lightning, and when he comes running, the barn door is going to be shut.

Therefore, don’t be like the mule. “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle.”

Instead, let everyone who is godly come to God in prayer at a time when he may be found (Psalm 32:6).

The way not to be a mule is to humble ourselves, to come to God in prayer, to confess our sins, and to accept, as needy little farmyard chicks, the direction of God into the barn of his protection and provision.

John Piper 

The Humility of Christ

19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,

21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. - Romans 5:19-21

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." - John 10:18

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. - Philippians 2:5-11

5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"; 

6 as he says also in another place, "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek." 

7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.

9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,

10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. - Hebrews 5:5-10

36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here, while I go over there and pray."

37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.

38 Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me."

39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."

40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour?

41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done."

43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.

45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand." - Matthew 26:36-46