July 30, 2020 (Thursday)
After King Saul and his son, Jonathan, were killed in battle, Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, became king of all the tribes except Judah. David became Judah’s king. Abner, Saul’s general, stepped up to advise Ishbosheth and have him crowned as king. Abner soon swelled with pride, and considered himself as powerful as Ishbosheth. He then had a conference with David in which he assured David that all 12 tribes would become one nation and David would become the king. This was followed by a personal meeting of Abner with Joab, David’s military leader. Abner’s self-centeredness and pride caused him to let down his guard and he was killed by Joab. Joab hated Abner because Abner had killed his brother, in battle. No doubt Abner had his eye on the number one spot on David’s staff, but Joab ended up in that spot because, as Joab said, “Abner died as a fool.” Shortly after Abner’s death, Ishbosheth was assassinated. Joab then rose to prominence in Israel, further shaming Abner’s family.
I learned a saying as I was growing up, “too big for his britches.” Abner reached that point in his life, became prideful and careless and died an ignominius death.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon conducted a school for preachers. The students sat and listened as each preacher in the class waited for his special day when he would stand before the class and deliver his “masterpiece.” A young man in the class was known for having pride in his ability to preach. On a certain day it became his turn to stand up and preach to the students. He stood tall, his head lilting, walked with a kind of strut to the pulpit, and proceeded to show the class how it’s done. But he failed. His words stuck to the roof of his mouth. Adjectives escaped him, sounds from the street distracted him, losing confidence he stammered at times. Finally, by the grace of the Lord, he was finished. He walked back to his seat with sadness written on his face, his shoulders slumped, and his fee dragging. Then came the inevetable dreaded evaluation by the teacher, Spurgeon. Spurgeon said to him, “Young man, if you had gone up like you came down, you could have come down like you went up!”
There used to be a standard tale shared by young preachers, who said, “I’ve written a book entitled “My Humility and How I Attained It, with full page color illustrations.” I think we joke about humility because we are uncomfortable with the idea.
Jesus taught us to do our work and leave the rewards to the Lord. Rewards should never be our concern. We serve the Lord because we love the Lord. That’s it.
I Am Not Worthy the Least of His Favors
Beatrice Bush Bixler
I am not worthy the least of His favor,
But Jesus left heaven for me;
The Word became flesh and He died as my Savior,
Forsaken on dark Calvary.
Chorus:
I am not worthy this dull tongue repeats it!
I am not worthy this heart gladly beats it?
Jesus left heaven to die in my place
What mercy, what love and what grace!
I am not worthy the least of His favor,
But “In the beloved” I stand;
Now I’m an heir with my wonderful Savior,
And all things are mine at His hand.
I am not worthy the least of His favor,
But He is preparing a place
Where I shall dwell with my glorified Savior,
Forever to look on His face.