Seeing Our Need

There are things in life that do not resolve well on their own.  Without medical intervention there are a myriad of health problems which persist until they are intentionally treated.  I remember my Granddad had cataracts, which is a clouding of the lens in the eye.  It progressed to a point while driving he struggled to make out whether the light was illuminated green or red!  After submitting to a surgical procedure, he was able to see clearly.  With the advances of technology, what was once a risky operation with common poor outcomes is now safe and very effective.

As cataracts are a condition which progress over time and cause blindness, so it is spiritually with pride.  If left unchecked, pride progressively leads to the destruction of people and nations--and pride does not appreciate being checked!  Even as cataracts are often a result of the ageing process, it seems success and prosperity can play a role in feeding and coddling pride.  At one time king Saul was a humble man, but only after a matter of years of being crowned he was no longer small in his own eyes.  He sought praise and adoration of his people, blowing a trumpet to announce his successful military operations.  King Nebuchadnezzar also was filled with pride, and though being warned by God was likely unwilling and unable to humble himself because he was saturated with it.  The person blinded by a cataract cannot see what they are blind to.

Pride is not only a dangerous pitfall for the powerful or wealthy.  After God delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt, He warned them not to be lifted up with pride and forget the LORD God and all He had done for them:  they needed God in prosperity even as they cried out to Him for help in poverty.  Moses wrote to God's people in Deuteronomy 8:11-19:

"Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, ¹² lest--when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; ¹³ and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; ¹⁴ when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; ¹⁵ who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; ¹⁶ who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end--¹⁷ then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.' ¹⁸ And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish."

When we have eaten and are full, we lack hunger that prompted us to eat in the first place.  Having a comfortable house, stores of food and money to purchase all we need can cause us to forget how much we still need God.  Amazingly, pride would cause the perspective of the people to be distorted to believe it was by their power and might of their hands that was responsible for their prosperity rather than God who delivered them from slavery, led them through the wilderness, protected them from harm, miraculously provided water from the rock, fed them with bread from heaven.  God brought them through difficult trials to humble them to learn to fear the LORD and rely upon Him for all things, for He is the source of all good we enjoy.  God made a covenant with His people to exclusively serve Him, and if or when they were lifted up with pride and deviated from his covenant, it would be their ruin.

Cataracts have been blinding people for millennia, and pride has led to the condemnation of Satan, kings and people from the beginning of time.  Samuel couldn't do anything about Saul's pride, and Daniel couldn't do anything about Nebuchadnezzar's pride.  Like my Granddad needed to make an appointment and go to the doctor, to humble himself to undergo a procedure, so we must each humble ourselves before the holy God.  Unlike cataracts which only affect a portion of people, pride is endemic to all people.  In His wisdom, God allows things we see as bad or negative to remind us of how much we need Him.  If you look around and see things as bad and growing worse, then our role is to humble ourselves before God.

Consider what God said to Solomon after he dedicated the temple in Jerusalem to the LORD with feasting in 2 Chronicles 7:13-16:  "When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴ if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. ¹⁶ For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually."  The implications of God's promise is immense when we consider the new covenant by the blood of Jesus makes every born-again Christian the temple of the Holy Spirit.  We ought to have no allowances for pride in us (though it rises up continually in the flesh), for Jesus came to seek and save lost sinners.

It is for us, fellow believers, to humble ourselves, pray and seek the LORD's face, to turn from our wicked ways, and we have the promise God will certainly hear our prayers and answer.  He has forgiveness and healing for the land of all who draw near to Him in faith.  A land may be marred with bloodshed and soaked with tears, yet there remains hope in God.  His eyes are open to see believers' plight and His ear attentive to our voices, for He has chosen and sanctified us by grace.  We are His precious, purchased possession for all eternity.  God said of the temple that once stood, "My eye and My heart will be there perpetually," and this is true regarding the presence of the Holy Spirit who resides within us.  How humbling it is to know God, and blessed it the man who knows He needs God in prosperity.  Such will even praise and thank God in adversity, for it is a gentle, merciful and gracious reminder of our need for Him always.