“Are We Getting Lowly, Yet?”

Monday, April 6th, 2020. 4:52 PM.

Sonora: “August, what do you mean by that question?”

August: “Well, with all this pandemic happening – people getting sick; hospitals filling up; people dying like it was the plague . . . it’s enough to make folks lowly, don’t you think?”

Sonora: “Yes, of course! It’s enough to make us all feel lowly.”

August: “Maybe God wants us to be lowly.”

Sonora: “And why would God want that?”

August: “Maybe it’s good for us.”

Sonora: “Lowliness is good for us?”

August: “Yes, of course!”

Sonora: “What makes you think so?”

August: “His Holy Spirit told us so. It’s in His Word, Sonora.”

Sonora: “Where is it in His Word, August?”

August: “In the Psalms, it is written: “For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.” -Psalms 138:6. ESV Study Bible.

Sonora: “And if God regards the lowly, how is that good for them?”

August: “It is written: “Help, LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men. Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue that says, “We will triumph with our tongues; we own our lips – who is our master?” “Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will protect them from those who malign them.” And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times. O LORD, you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever. The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.” -Psalm 12:1-8. NIV Study Bible.

August: “And in The New Testament, in the gospel, Jesus said: “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” -Luke 16:13-15. NIV Study Bible.

THY WORD – Amy Grant

Sonora: “I believe the earth and all that lives on earth would be happier and much healthier and safer if people were all lowly and gentle and peaceful and taking refuge in God our Saviour — rather than constantly stimulating the economy and giving the earth no rest — as they relentlessly seek more and more money for themselves while polluting the earth and impoverishing the poor.”

August: “God’s Word reveals this ungodly and worldly pursuit of wealth as “Babylon the great.” And, in the last book of Holy Scripture, reveals prophetically what is going to happen to that great city:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+17-22&version=ESV

“At that time Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ ” -Matthew 11:25-30. ESV Study Bible.

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.’ ” -Matthew 18:1-6. ESV Study Bible.

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and do not obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” -James 4:1-10. ESV Study Bible.

My song of Humility