God Pause for Monday, 26 August 2013

I was asked to write the "God Pause" devotions for Luther Seminary this week.  I'll be posting here as they're published.  If you'd like to subscribe (you should:  yours truly being the exception, they're consistently good little devotions for the day), point your browser in this direction.

Proverbs 25:6-7 (NRSV)
6 Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence or stand in the place of the great;
7 for it is better to be told, "Come up here," than to be put lower in the presence of the prince.

My fourth year in college I was fairly certain I'd be playing principal euphonium in the Wind Ensemble, the best concert group at my college. I met two good freshmen players during auditions, and told them I thought they were good enough that one of them would be playing with me. Little did I know they would both be better players and I would be playing bass trombone instead. Humility is a funny thing: you never know you need it until you get it. That's why it's passive: we "get" humbled far more often than we "are" humble.

Mighty God, humble us gently. Even at our most gracious, we're often far too sure of ourselves. Make us certain only in you and proud only in being claimed by your Holy Spirit for work in your world. Amen.