Hi. I’m Ken Jones, and this is A Classic State of Mind, with A Word About … Humility

How are you known? If friends, family members, acquaintances were to describe you, what kind of words would they use? How are you known? Or, perhaps an even more telling question, “How would you like to be known?” What would you like your reputation to be? or ‘How do you intend to be known?’

My wife and I are reading through the bible together, and every evening before bedtime, we sit together and take turns reading aloud the Word of God. Right now, we’re in the Pentateuch, those first five books of the Old Testament. Most scholars believe Moses was the recorder of those first five books of our bible, and the author of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. I’ve read those first five books many times in my life; but this time through, as my wife and I take turns reading aloud, I’ve noticed something again that has struck me as being important and noteworthy.

Over and over again, in those first five books, there are occasions when I read the words: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying ….” In fact, in Exodus 33, the bible says that Moses and God spoke to one another on a regular basis in that Tent of Meeting, and that God spoke to Moses ‘as one friend speaks to another.’ Can you imagine? Becoming so ‘acquainted’ with God that you could actually hear his voice? And Moses heard God’s familiar voice many, many times. At least 135 times, Moses writes in the Pentateuch, “And the Lord spoke to Moses …”.

But there’s another side to Moses. Even though he conversed with God all the time, he didn’t view himself as anything special. He was unassuming, in his relationship with God. Retiring, and meek, and self-effacing. He told God (as if God didn’t already know) that he didn’t talk too good, and that he didn’t believe Pharaoh would pay much attention to him. You may remember God sending his brother, Aaron with him for the meetings with Pharaoh. Moses was an incredibly unpretentious man; simple as that stick – that rod he carried.

And as Moses was being instructed by God, and given the content of those first five books of the bible, I wonder what it must have been like for him the day God stuck up for him? You can read the story for yourself, in Numbers, chapter 12. Moses wrote down the story, exactly as God inspired him to do so. But as he was writing down the happenings of Numbers, chapter 12, I wonder what it was like to hear the voice of God, saying, “OK, now, Moses. Right this down: “Now Moses was a humble man; the humblest man on the face of the earth.” That’s what God’s Word says about Moses in Numbers 12:3. God identified Moses as the humblest man on the face of the earth.

How about you? How are you known by your friends and acquaintances? There’s much to be said about humility, as a quality of our character. Perhaps nothing is more important to seek after in our relationship with God than a humble heart. For the Lord ‘resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’

Humility: A wonderful way to be known.

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