Pride and Humble Pie

"Pride always produces faulty expectations. 

I can detect pride in my life 

when I start to expect things

to turn out “my way” 

and am disappointed when they do not. 

Pride causes us to make assumptions 

that set us up to miss out on what God wants for us 

and the way He wants to accomplish it." 

~ Priscilla Shirer, He Speaks to Me: Preparing to Hear the Voice of God.

I just finished reading the above referenced book. I love highlighting passages that jump out at me as I read. When I finish a book, I like to go back and read those highlights again. This quote is one of those that I highlighted. Obviously the quote meant something to me when I first read it, but little did I know that by the time I finished this book I would be knee-deep in this issue.

This particular form of pride is definitely a problem in my life. It's not that I'm demanding in my way or blatantly prideful about having my way, but I do have this tendency to project my own expectations into any given situation. I've mentioned this issue before on this blog--this overwhelming desire to figure things out. This gift can be a blessing as it has helped me many times in business and other areas of my life. But I'm also realizing it can be a bit of a curse, too.

You see, this desire to figure things out causes me to over process. I see things unfolding in a certain way and begin to make assumptions based on past experience or some other knowledge. Before long I start to give in to expectations based on what I "think" is going to happen (or what "should" transpire). In the business world that's called "thinking ahead." I've been nicknamed "Radar" for being able to anticipate, therefore this gift has served me well. However...

God doesn't work that way. 

When something in my personal life doesn't unfold as I thought they might, suddenly my confidence in God and trust in Him plummets. I'm left picking up the pieces and wondering what in the world happened? But the problem is not with God. The problem is with my expectations and placing my hope in the wrong place. I was putting trust in myself and my own knowledge (pride).

Newsflash: God doesn't "do things" the way we would. 

Okay, probably not a newsflash if you've been a believer for a while. We know that the Bible says:

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, 

so my ways are higher than your ways 

and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. 

Isaiah 55:9

Yeah, pride is thinking that my thoughts are just as good as God's--or better. The antidote for pride is humility. I need to take a spoonful or two each morning as I contemplate the God who created not only this vast universe, but also the tiniest of molecules in our bodies and the air that we breathe.

He is the God of detail. Nothing surprises Him. 

God created me and knows me much better than I know myself. He created my innermost parts and knows exactly how everything needs to fit together for His glory--not mine. I'll say it again: His glory, not mine!

Wanna join me in a slice of humble pie?