Humble Thyself in the Side of the Lord: He Will Lift You Up

(Disclaimer: Note– this is NOT a trigger warning. People had allll last month to post trigger warnings on PC posts. Anyways. I do love and respect my pro-choice friends and even fam, but since I love them, I cannot bear to look them in the eye and lie to them, sugarcoating the Truth I know to be absolutely REAL, or worse, completely denying it, outright lying and pretending I agree with them, when the opposite couldn’t be more true… Leaving the inner thoughts and Truth to boil inside of me, like scalding lava, ready to explode out of the volcano. Well, fear not, readers– no explosions today. Just a casual river of lava flowing out of a side opening. 😉 )

Hey, everyone!!

I know, I know, it’s been ages. I initially planned on releasing this yesterday evening, but was so exhausted, I only focused on typing up about the first half, before calling it quits for then– leaving the remainder and the edit for today. (I still have to review the Illuminae Files, Caraval, the Selection Series, Warcross, the Sowing and do some MBTI posts and– GREAT SCOTT LOOK AT THE TIME! Need to get started, here!) I feel like I’ve aged so much since graduating back in early May, but it’s only been a couple months of my whole 23 years of living.

Speaking of past experience… Some of you might recall that from last, around this time or so, I did a poem based on God healing America, not blessing “her.” Today, I still do not retract that statement, but continue to firmly verify it; nay, add to it: I’d like to ask God, my Abba (Hebrew for “Father,” or more specifically, “Daddy”– I’ve taken to calling Him that a lot more lately; it’s my special name for Him 🙂 ) to HUMBLE America. From the President to Hollywood actors and actresses, to activists, we ALL NEED THIS. BADLY.

This is actually a thankfulness post in disguise. See, I’ve noticed a recurring pattern here. Two things often happen when God blesses someone: They either A., take it for granted, lounge in the blessings, disregard God/forgot He gave it and can just as easily take it away, or B., humble themselves and are deeply thankful for everything He’s done, and has been doing for them. Likewise, the two have two different reactions when God takes away the blessings, and bad things start to happen: A often either curses/denies/blatantly ignores God, or, just as bad, promises to recant, etc., then, when things go back to smooth sailing, takes back this promise, and returns to the behavior that probably got them stuck in the pit to begin with (aka, the very yo-yo relationship that God had with the Israelites back in the good ol’ days. Nope, nothing new under the sun– just different century, different packaging, same product here). B, on the other side of the fence, is your typical Job: Either is asking God why, but knowing their place, and never directly blames God, retains righteousness, and comes out of that fiery testing GOLD– aka, blessed even more than before.

Guess which America is? (Hint: It’s not B.)

Now, I’m NOT discounting the people who are continuously resisting and yanking ‘Merica back by its coattails to prevent certain disaster. No, in fact, I applaud such people for their effort. But if America becomes any more blessed at this point, I honestly believe it will go straight to our heads even more than it already has. We have become so blessed that we are often led to believe, solely by our OWN designs, no less, that it is our own actions that have caused the blessings to occur– no God, thank you (Oooo… hurt to write that… ). We pull an Eve, straight out of Genesis, wanting to become our own “gods,” masters of our own fates, captains of our own ships. But it is extremely dangerous to let a captain pilot a ship he has no idea how to sail. And it is equally dangerous that we have let God’s blessings (a very good thing) lead to us wanting to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps, chests “puffed up” in pride, and neglect entirely the thought of thanking or even acknowledging Him (a very bad thing).

And let’s not forget last month’s little theme: #PrideMonth.

So, it is with a very sad and solemn heart that I look to Abba and ask Him, no, beg Him, to not bless my country. It grieves me to beg this. My own country. My physical inheritance, descendants, and progenitors. I beg Him to humble America. To remind us that we could lose EVERYTHING materially– hobbies, health, objects/trinkets we feel we cannot live without, family, friends, the world, power, wealth– and none of that would matter, so as long as we have Him. If we have Him, we have everything. If we have everything BUT Him, we will have nothing. (And trust me, when I say “nothing,” I mean, “NOTHING”. You can’t take that iPad, that BMW, or that book boyfriend, with you up to Abba. One throne in your heart, for ONE King. God doesn’t do sharing. 😉 For reasons specified in the Old Testament… Israelites had their trinkets they couldn’t let go of, either…) But until we get over ourselves, and turn to the One Who truly deserves our praise, I will not in good conscience ask Him to bless us, as a nation. America likes to play the victim at times, but judging from our past, we’re often very similar to Israel. We all need a serious Reality-God-Check; He’s supposed to be in charge here, in charge of our lives, helping us govern ourselves and our nation. Him, not us. We need to stop backseat driving. And we need to accept that.

But for those who probably wrinkle their noses in disgust at my proclamation, I do not only ask for humility for my nation. No, it is also healing, for we are a very, very broken nation of splintered people. Fractured families of all kinds. Broken hearts, lost souls, floating about aimlessly, searching for something, someone, anyone to fill the void left in their heart. Drugs. Abuse. Perversions of many, many variations (I lost track, and am not bothering to keep track any longer). Deaths of many variations. If that breaks my heart, I can hardly begin to imagine how badly it breaks Abba’s. (Probably comes pretty close to utterly obliterating it due to pure pain, I would wager) We are so lost in ourselves, so lost to sin, it is as if we are wandering around in a sea of obscure fog, taking whichever direction the first signpost we spot may point out to us. Even if it is straight off the cliff. Into a sea of ravenous sharks. Straight into the enemy’s waiting jaws.

It is too easy for that vermin to get away with such treachery, and the very thought of it not only makes my skin crawl, but it makes my blood SIMMER. It is just like Lucifer to deliberately calculate and manipulate people’s pains to make them sin more, and drive them away from the One True and Only Permanent Relief– Jesus. We need to fight him. We need to have humility, healing, and a genuine movement of repentance to God and His SON, if we are to make it as a nation, and not fall apart at the seams.

So please… pray with me now…

Abba,

We know we have sinned against You, and against Your Beloved Son, when all You ever wanted was to heal us, to help us, to draw us closer to You and for us to reciprocate Your love for us. Please forgive us of our sins, as we know that does nothing but drive a wider wedge between You and us. We know You want desperately to abolish said wedge, and can do so faster than the bat of an eyelid, but want us to willingly disperse of the wedge. And so, we humbly turn that wedge over to You to destroy, closing that gap. All the sin, all the false idols… We lay them all at Your feet, Abba, and ask You to deal with them as only You see fit. Thank You for blessing us with what we already have, but we know what we really, truly need is You, and only You. Please humble us, and help us to see that. Forgive our pride, show us how to let You take the wheel. Heal us, fix the brokenness, show us the way to go. Be our lighthouse on a hill that we can see clearly through the dense fog, for with You, oh Lord, all things are possible.  

 

“Humble thyself in the Side of the Lord…

Humble thyself in the Side of the Lord…

And He… Shall lift.. You up.

Higher and higher, and He

Shall lift

You up.”

 

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” James 4:10, NIV

“Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the LORD, and humility comes before honor.” Proverbs 15:33, NIV (Prvbs. 18:12 says something extremely similar)

 

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Image Credit: https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/american-flag-cross