Five “Proverbs” on Humility
Forgiveness. Grace and works. Dry spells. Dazzling God. Gratitude.
It’s hard simply to read the book of Proverbs. The little chunks of wisdom, one after another, come at you endlessly. Soon the reader is overwhelmed, and the mind starts to go numb. One can read chapters of the Gospels or Epistles or whole Psalms without zoning out. It’s hard to do that with proverbs. Better to read just a few, and let them sit with you and work themselves into your heart and mind.
That’s how I want to help readers dip into books that have helped me in my journey. I thought about doing that by outlining the book and methodically explaining the point of each chapter. I think there is some merit in introducing a book this way, but I’d like to try another method—the proverbs approach. I’ll pick out passages that I highlighted as I read. You’ll gain some insight into what moved me when I read the book. I assume some of these “proverbs” will prompt your thinking and prayer. They are intended to be read slowly and savored.
The following are taken from The Grace of Nothingness,2 a book in which the description of being “nothing,” like dying to self, is a powerful metaphor for humility. I’ve explained my appreciation of this metaphor here. In this newsletter, let me highlight five short passages that struck me when I read the book recently. They all revolve around the main theme of the book: humility.
Forgiveness
If you were to forgive in a way that wills the other person’s good (perhaps from afar), then you would thereby help to heal the situation. If you were to forgive in a way that wills the other person’s eternal happiness, even praying the other person may enjoy heaven more than your own future enjoyment of it, then that type of forgiveness would allow you to move forward into a new triumph of grace in your life. (p. 31)
This strikes me as a tall order—beyond my natural abilities, to be sure. But with God’s grace, maybe, someday!
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