Psalm 73:13 – 14 “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure; in innocence I have washed my hands. For I am afflicted all day long and punished every morning.”
The man who wrote this psalm was thoroughly and completely disgusted and fed up! He had tried to live a righteous life, but what had that gotten him? Not much! Meanwhile, his neighbor, perhaps a crooked businessman, was living in luxury. The psalmist was disgusted and wanted to make sure God knew about it!
When I was growing up on the farm, we had to change the position of fences on a regular basis. To help set the fence posts, we had a type of auger mounted on the back of the tractor. After positioning the auger, we would engage the power take – off and the auger would drill a nice deep hole. There was only one problem with that auger: it only worked in one direction. The longer the power take – off was engaged, the deeper the hole would get. Self pity is a lot like that.
Oswald Chambers speaks about self pity in “My Utmost for His Highest” in the November 10th selection. Chambers says, “I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. I should never say, “Lord, this causes me such heartache.” To talk that way makes me a stumbling block. When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hindrance. He can crush me, exalt me, or do anything else He chooses. He simply asks me to have absolute faith in Him and His goodness. Self-pity is of the devil, and if I wallow in it I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. Doing this creates for me my own cozy “world within the world,” and God will not be allowed to move me from it because of my fear of being “frost-bitten.”
How do you combat injustice? Injustice must be opposed in humility, recognizing that many times your personal prejudices might appear quite unjust to someone else. Humility allows you to sit and listen, rather than jumping to conclusions that you have all the answers for a particular situation. But one thing that does NOT help combat injustice is encouraging the victims of that injustice to wallow in self – pity. You cannot empower people and foster self – pity at the same time. Self pity is like leukemia. Leukemia moves into your very bones and either manufactures abnormal cells or causes the bone marrow to stop producing cells at all. Self pity takes away initiative, saps energy, and focuses one’s attention in the wrong direction. Just like that mounted auger, self – pity will keep digging deeper and deeper holes, until it’s almost impossible to see out! Yes, Chambers is right! Self – pity is of the devil !
Prayer: Father God, this morning we confess that we have wallowed in self – pity so many times and have also encouraged others to do the same. Lord, deliver us from ourselves! Help us to climb out of the holes we have created and to go forward into the future you have for us. Let us be used by you for your purposes. In the mighty and precious Name of Jesus. Amen.
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