Numbers 12:1-8
Verse 3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)
We come to yet another similarity between the prophet Moses and the Lord Jesus Christ, their humility.
This little side note is packed with a big nugget of truth. Here was a man who had grown up spending his days in the lap of luxury and after forty years of being out of the spotlight he was now the leader of many thousand people on a many year journey through the wilderness. To think of Moses as humble we have to remove our own pride glasses.
We don’t like to think of ourselves as prideful yet each of us struggle with this daily. It may not show itself as the puffed up haughtiness or arrogance that we often associate with the trait but sometimes what appears as humility isn’t honestly the sweet characteristic it mimics. We want people to think well of us and we want to appear to think of others before ourselves but the truth is almost everything in life is mentally weighed by what it will mean for our lives.
Moses had weighed the responsibility in the presence of the Lord at the burning bush. He had told the Lord that he wasn’t qualified but God said that wasn’t necessary and showed Moses what He was going to do through His power and Moses’ obedience. This would be good for us to remember. We tend to think we need to do things under our own power but isn’t that also prideful? When we think that we can fix things on our own we are seeing ourselves as the ultimate power. We are not.
Of course we see the humility of Jesus in many ways through His life. From His coming as a tiny babe, to His staying silent through the trial in front of Pilate and even as His life was nearing the end, hanging on a cross which was considered to be a curse for the people of God. He was willing to wash His disciples’ feet despite His being the teacher. He allowed Himself to be arrested and led to be slaughtered even though He had done nothing wrong. That is pure humility! Being His followers, we too should be examples of humility in a world of selfishness and pride.
Making It Personal
How does pride show up in your life? Can you admit to yourself that you struggle with pride? How can you live out humility today?
Making It Personal Kids
How would you describe humility? What does it look like to live in humility? What is a way you can show humility today?
Closing Prayer
Father, we confess that more often than not we find ourselves in a prideful state of mind. Please help us learn what it means to be humble and help us grow in humility. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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