Humble

One thing I’ve noticed that I absolutely LOVE about studying The Scriptures is the assumptions it makes about us. For me, it’s one of the main reasons I find God’s Word to be trustworthy: It knows us, deeply. Second Corinthians, chapter 2 opens with Paul continuing his letter to the Church at Corinth and he gets pretty discursive in making his points about sorrow, blame and forgiveness (see for yourself).
In verse 11, he talks about a real danger in misunderstanding the situation: It allows Satan to take advantage, but he concludes with this assumption, “for we are not ignorant of his devices.”

The point is, Satan continually seeks to find a way to disrupt God’s order and stir up confusion among God’s people. (in a group, or internally in our own minds)

In my opinion, the enemy has a deeply effective arrow in his quiver. Comedy.
Well, not simply comedy for comedy sake but humor at any cost of someone’s personhood. Everyone loves to laugh but no one wants to be laughed at. Don’t believe me? Just look at how undesirable it is to sit too close to the stage at a comedy show. Unless you’re really good and confident at defending yourself, being a possible target is an uncomfortable choice.

To be laughed at is to be belittled and we can conclude that as soon as we begin to see something as funny, it’s hard to take it seriously.
We all know the Genesis story of Eve talking to the serpent about what God said. We usually imagine it in a straightforward, serious-toned exchange. But look what happens when we imagine it differently; Imagine Satan, leaning back and slapping his knee (Serpents may have still had knees then) with a loud belly laugh “Is THAT what you think He said?”
See how that changes things?
Now it’s not just about Eve’s struggle for obedience. Now it’s about saving face, and trying to not look dumb or simple-minded. Mainstream Media loves making fun of Christianity and has effectively silenced much of a collective, responsive voice. We're called to contend for and defend the faith but we're not confident because we're not comfortable enough with the little we know. (1 Peter 3 and Jude 3)

The devil knows how careful we are to avoid being laughed at. This is where he takes advantage. This is where he nudges us to promote our pride rather than embrace humility.

If God walked up to you right now and said “I need you to do something.” What would your response be? Many of us think that we would jump at the chance and be like “Yes LORD! Finally, I get to do something for God and It’s gonna be AWESOME!!!”
Yet, if we’re really honest with ourselves, if God walked up to any of us RIGHT NOW, it’d be a near death experience. Scripture knows us and this is what we really see with 2 people; Moses and Isaiah.

Here’s The Word:

Exodus 3:6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. (...and this was just a burning bush)

Isaiah 6:5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

When God first sought to send Moses to lead the Israelites from Egypt, Moses was not a proud recipient of the news. His first response was “Who am I to do this?” (Exodus 3). Moses also worried about his speech impediment (some believe he had a stuttering problem – Exodus 4:10).
We also see Isaiah’s response before he got to the point where he said “Here am I, send me.” Both of them were humble and their responses validated it.

Remember, humility is not seeing yourself as less, it’s about seeing yourself rightly. The Bible assumes our issue with pride and encourages us to fight against it. "Confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed." - James 5:16 ...and as easy it is to say "Nobody's perfect", how hard it is to get personal and confess specifics!
The idea of 'humble pie' is never presented as something desirable. Why? We’re all error-prone mistake makers that should praise God way more than we do, and take credit way less than we do. But when presented with humble pie – we take it as we’ve been heckled and we need to defend ourselves. And some of us think we're good with our humility as long as we can dictate when and how much. Why?
I understand about clearing up confusion, but I know how small I am and I know my shortcomings: Sometimes I get angry too easily, I can be dismissive when I should be compassionate, I overthink and underact; Too many things to list here.
And if I’m not careful of the way Satan seeks to take advantage, my sensitivity about my short-comings, makes me all too ready to defend against someone belittling me. This pride puts me at risk. We often imagine pride as a grandiose display of bravado, it's also expressed when I'm resistant (for fear or otherwise) to embracing God's truth.

So I’m happy to be reminded just how human and imperfect I am. I’m happy to remember that "we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." 2 Corinthians 4:7. I’m happy to embrace humility and remove the stigma associated with humble pie - When the pie is mine to eat, I welcome it.
Not taking myself too seriously or not defending myself when others laugh at me, (even if they're wrong), is a source of strength, not weakness. I extract any validity of their view and use it to help myself become better. I can then be appreciative. I see myself for who and what I really am, and I remain aware of Satan's devices. I don't need to promote myself, God will.

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

In Him,
Cros