Faith in God is also faith in ourselves. This is not faith in our righteousness, wisdom, or even faith, but faith that His work in us is sufficient for anything He calls us to do. False humility is a rejection of God’s adequacy in us and is an affront to Him.

        When we criticize other people’s children, are we not criticizing the parents? When we criticize the Lord’s children, are we not criticizing Him, or saying we don’t approve of the way He is raising them? Now consider the same about yourself. When you have a low opinion of yourself, are you not criticizing His workmanship?

        We discussed before how Moses sounded humble when he told the Lord at the burning bush he was not adequate for the great tasks to which the Lord had called him. Yet this caused the Lord’s anger to burn against him. This was not humility but a terrible pride for Moses to say his inadequacies were greater than God’s adequacy. Is this not what we do when we think we are not worthy or capable of doing something He has called us to do?

        In truth, we are not worthy, capable, righteous, or wise enough for anything God has called us to do. This we must settle, not to become timid or reticent, but so our faith will be in the Lord and not in ourselves.

        When Moses responded by valuing his inadequacy above God’s power, the Lord responded in His anger by telling Moses to throw his staff to the ground. In prophetic symbolism, a staff often represents a calling or ministry, which is what Moses was in fact casting to the ground in his false humility. When he did this, his staff turned into a serpent and chased him until he picked it up again. Perhaps the demons and troubles that are chasing us are really our own calling we have cast off. If so, there is only one thing we can do to stop them: pick up what God has called us to instead of rebuking the devil.

        If we look at our inadequacies and weaknesses as opportunities for God’s power and wisdom to be revealed through us, we learn to look for His strength in our inadequacies, and our faith in Him grows. That is why the Apostle Paul learned to boast in his weaknesses. We are all in way over our heads, but if He is with us, there is nothing we cannot do or overcome.

        Keeping in mind we are inadequate, while at the same time being bold in Him, is having faith in Him and not in ourselves. This is true humility. Since we know He uses the weak to confound the mighty and foolish to confound the wise of this world (see I Corinthians 1:27), we can accept His calling knowing we are the weakest and most foolish ones He had available. This is the faith that pleases Him, since our faith remains in Him despite our inadequacies.

        Wisdom is to keep our focus on the Lord and not on ourselves, whether we consider ourselves wise and strong or weak and foolish. If you think it is too challenging to stay properly balanced in everything, you are right about that also. We cannot do any of this without Him, but He promises to lead us and never forsake us, and we trust Him to correct us when we get off balance. But let us resolve not to bury any of the talents He gives us but rather to use them all to the max, which requires the boldness of faith.

        Sin or wickedness and legalism are referred to as leaven in Scripture. These are opposites, yet even more profoundly, have the same root. Israel was commanded to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread to remember how they left Egypt in such haste that their bread did not have time to become leavened. When leaven gets in our bread (which represents our lives), it is because we have stopped moving and growing in our walk with the Lord. When we slow our pursuit of Him, leaven is lurking and usually comes in one of these forms: sin and wickedness, or legalism.

         The River of Life is a river, not a lake or a pond. A river is ever flowing and going somewhere. Water, which is a metaphor for truth in Scripture, will by nature become polluted when it settles in one place. The Christian life is called a “walk” because when we live it, we are moving and going somewhere.

        Any muscle that is not used will atrophy. Atrophy may be the most common characteristic of Christians today, and it has us in a deadly grip. We must get up and start moving again. Even if we start moving in the wrong direction, as the law of inertia states, that which is not moving cannot be steered. If we are at least moving, He can begin to steer us.

        We should not want to err at all, but right now, it might be the most refreshing thing we have seen in a while for Christians to start erring on the side of boldness. If we do, and people get saved or a revival starts that the Lord did not intend, I think He will forgive us. Is this not what Jonathan was doing when he attacked the Philistine garrison in I Samuel 14?

© 2022 Rick Joyner. All Rights Reserved.