Is self-pity knocking at your door?
Week 45 – Celebrating 100 Years of Oswald Chambers
VERSE: “Fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 3:2
OSWALD: “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…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.” – (My Utmost for His Highest, November 10th)
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How It Spoke to Me…
“Self-pity is of the devil,” Oswald says.
Pretty harsh words to describe the cushy, emotional shawl I’m often tempted to wrap around myself. After all, self-pity is never completely unjustified. Life offers plenty of reasons to wall ourselves in with our pain so that we might lick our wounds and tend our battered egos.
In times like these, self-pity always appears to be a friend, tenderly wrapping itself around our bruised feelings and commiserating with our pain. Whispering how badly we’ve been treated and how we deserve to wallow in the sorrow of it all.
Usually I don’t recognize self-pity’s demonic origin because it seems the justifiable response. But whenever I feel the seductive weight of its comfort pushing me down, down, down, in my mood and in my feelings, I’ve learned to stop and reconsider my response.
Entertaining self-pity is just one step away from being enslaved to it. Click To TweetBelieve me I know. I’ve been down its slippery slopes a few times and it only leads to depression, discouragement and despair.
The cure to self-pity, you might ask? for me, it’s involved a new point of view. And a generous dose of faith.
“I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me,” Oswald writes. “God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him…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.”
Has self-pity been knocking at your door lately, my friend? I’ve heard the doorbell several times over the last couple of weeks.
Though it’s been hard to master my emotions in order to exercise my faith, I’ve tried to respond to the Lord rather than resort to
self-pity.
Praying out loud with Oswald, “You can crumple me up or exalt me, You can do anything You choose. I trust You, Lord! I’m not going to give in to my situation. I’m giving my situation to You!”
<< Read WEEK 44 – “The Doorway of Heartbreak”
Read WEEK 46 – “The Danger of Surrogate Messiahs” >>
I’d love to hear from you…What situation do you need to give over to God?