Homework

Remember the days of cramming for that all-important exam and staying up all night in an attempt to complete that grade-defining term paper? Distant memories for most of us. I recall graduating from college with a resolution to never return. Tired of being the student, I was ready to tackle whatever the work world could throw at me. So how is it that I once again find myself answering discussion questions and tackling weekly homework assignments? You guessed it. I'm back in class. Not as a requirement, but because I'd like to improve my writing skills.

Uncanny, when I look back and realize, that each time I've drawn my imaginary line in the sand, the Lord has come along with His heavenly pencil and redrawn it. I remember when I was pregnant with our daughter, my husband and I were discussing her future education. My husband asked what I thought of homeschooling, to which I adamantly replied, "I would never do that!" Four years later, I found myself unpacking A Beka boxes that held our daughter's K-4 curriculum. I'm learning to be very careful about stating anything too emphatically when it comes to what I will and will not do.

Pride isn't pretty. Every time I've attempted to tell God what I'm going to do, He is faithful to allow me to get a glimpse of my pride in the mirror of His Word. When I am able to identify a lie I've believed, the homework begins. It's time to replace that lie with the truth. King Solomon wisely penned, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18, KJV) Writing this biblical truth out on an index card, and repeating it aloud as I'm faced with prideful thinking helps me to be "renewed in the spirit" of my mind (Ephesians 4:23; KJV).

All of us struggle with pride. After all, pride was the reason Lucifer was expelled from heaven. It shouldn't surprise us when Satan and our sinful flesh try to lure us down the pathway paved with pride. The prophet Isaiah wrote about Satan's downfall: "12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." (Isaiah 14:12-14) It's worth noticing that five times in two verses, Satan arrogantly states what he will do.

We have a choice. See how far we can get down pride's pathway, or fall to our knees at humble hill. From a lifetime of experience, the Apostle Peter summed it up as follows, "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:" (1 Peter 5:6; KJV) Similarly, the book of James states, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." (James 4:10; KJV) There is freedom in humbly submitting ourselves to a God worthy of all of our praise. Not to mention the incredible truth that He will exalt us in His timing. Will you choose to humbly submit to Him today?