6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:6-7 [NLT]

So, this is where I’ll begin today’s “My Daily Bread” entry. You might assume that after years of doing this, I would’ve already pretty much cover the lesson on humility. If this were like some course I could study, I probably should be done with it long ago. But here’s the lesson that I am learning today about humility. There is never a destination or arrival point. Learning how to be humble will always be a daily thing. As human beings, our own flesh and our own inner default desire to trust our own thinking means that we will always struggle with pride on a daily basis. And because of that alone, the lessons on humility will never be done with us.

Putting Down Our Pride and Accepting Help From Others

The very first time that I had to learn my lesson about humility was to admit that I didn’t know all the answers. That I don’t have all the solutions. And because of that, I had to learn to be humble by also considering other people’s ideas and suggestions. It’s about taking other people’s ideas and suggestions seriously and admitting that not all of my ideas are the best. In so doing, I won’t try to do everything my way all of the time.

That was what I learned previously. Today, I am learning a slightly different lesson. After spending so many years trying to be self-sufficient (not relying on others for help or assistance), I am learning the most humbling lesson of all ➡️ we all need help from others at some points in our lives. And we should never be afraid (or too prideful) to reach out and ask for it either.

Sometimes, having humility means knowing that we cannot do something on our own. Especially when we are facing insurmountable odds. I suppose God is also trying to teach me one of the most important lessons in life itself ➡️ we can only make it so far on our own. At some point, we are going to need others around us to help us (helping each other) to work towards our collective & individual goals.

And that is exactly where I find myself today. After all that I have struggled with this past two years, I’ve finally come to a point where I know that I’ve officially reached my own limits. On my own, this is only as far as I’m going to get. It’s not to say that being independent and being a self-starter is a bad thing. In our industry today, it can be beneficial in certain settings. But in the grand scheme of life, we can’t do everything by ourselves.

So I finally made the decision to put down my pride and asked other people for help. I wrote a post on LinkedIn just this morning, listing down the 3 things that I need right now.

• Funds
• A freelance gig (it allows me to collect an upfront deposit).
• A full-time job with a better salary.

And yes, it does seem like a few people have been agreeing to help. For now, mostly it is about work. And that is good even if the pay they are offering is meager. All I could think about is how grateful I am for the offering. I’m just waiting on more word to see how to proceed.

¹⁰  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

James 4:10 [NLT]

In verse 10, the word reminds us that before God can lift us up from whatever rock bottom pit we might be in, we must first surrender ourselves and humble ourselves. It is when we really humble ourselves that we start to experience His amazing grace.

When you put 2 and 2 together, it all begins to make better sense. It’s that we allow our pride to get in the way of Him wanting to help us. Our own pride will also be our greatest obstacle.

Personal Prayer for Today

Dear Heavenly Father,

I come before You today, fully and utterly humbled by Your grace. Thank You for speaking to me through Your word today. You have helped me to recognize the areas of my life where I was still holding on to pride. And because of my pride, I could no longer progress or grow further.

Thank You for helping me to understand that as an individual, our strength, knowledge and abilities will always be limited. And at some point, we will reach our limits and we must know how to be humble enough to admit that when it happens.

Thank You for trying to teach me that in order for me to move beyond my own limits, I had to first lay down my own pride and ask for help from others. And so I have done. And now I can finally see some signs of Your grace through the few that have offered to help me so far.

I am truly grateful Lord and I continue to remain humble because I know that I need all the help that I can get right now. And I won’t let my pride get in the way of receiving help from others that may be willing to offer it.

I vow to give You all of the praises and all the glory.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

Amen.