Learning from Donkeys: A Palm Sunday Meditation

The other day Dionne and I were driving over to the park for a walk, and she pointed out a group of horse riders on one of the equestrian trails that interlace the park. What caught her attention was a little kid riding a donkey. Not something you see every day.

Horses and donkeys have a lot in common. They both carry people and people’s burdens. They look like genetic cousins (both genus: equus) and can produce hybrid offspring.

But horses seem beautiful and majestic; donkeys not so much. You picture John Wayne galloping across the prairie on a magnificent stallion, rescuing runaway stagecoaches. You picture Gabby Hayes toodling across the desert on a scruffy donkey. They make movies about horses like Secretariat or The Black Stallion. If they made a movie about a donkey, it would be something like Buttercup the Burro and Her Friend the Magpie. (My suggestion…Hollywood, call me.)

Five Steps Toward Humility

We all have a pride problem. We come into this world believing we are #1 and that our wants, needs, and desires should be everyone’s top priority. Our hardwiring tells us that we deserve to be at the center of the universe and that other people – even God – should do our bidding. This is, as a famous politician put it, an inconvenient truth. Nobody wants to admit it, but it is still true.

Another part of our pride problem is that the God of the universe hates pride and loves humility. Which puts us all in a very bad position. For example, But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  (James 4:6, 7) That the Lord opposes something should make us want to be on the other side of whatever that something is. Especially since, in contrast, He gives grace to the humble.

Those of us who follow Christ should want to pursue humility. But how?

How to Get What You Want from God

The only way you can get what you want from God is to want what He wants instead of what you want.

That’s it. That’s the whole deal.

Submit your will to His. Seek His kingdom first, desire His glory first, and let the rest of it go. And you’ll get what you seek and desire. Guaranteed.

He is committed to exalting His Son. So that’s what’s going to happen. Jesus will be lifted up. You and I better be in the “lifting up Jesus” business. Because any other business is going to crash and burn.

I hope you don’t think I’m playing word games with you. But the truth is, you and I, puny human beings, will not manipulate the Almighty God of the universe. There is no secret formula of faith and optimism that will make the Lord of glory do anything. Everyone and everything will bow to Him.

The secret of answered prayer is to figure out what God wants, and then pray for that. Not to bamboozle Him into giving you whatever your outrageous little heart desires. That’s not going to happen.

He’s God, Creator, King, Sovereign, Lord, Absolute Ruler, the Beginning and the End. Not a genie in a bottle.

Our selfish hearts will always think that God should do what we want. That’s called magic. It’s called paganism. That’s part of what’s wrong with us, and anybody who tries to layer it with spirituality is a false teacher. Our pride is ugly to God. It’s another way of saying, God, you should worship me. And who does that sound like? It’s what got our adversary kicked out of heaven, and it will do us no good.

Jesus promised, If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15:7)

Exactly. If we live our lives in Him, if His words take root in us to shape our minds and transform our hearts and conquer our wills, then whatever we ask will flow out of our adoration of Christ and our desire to see Him lifted up. You better believe God will always answer prayers like that.

Don’t waste your time on people who purport to tell you how to get what you want from God. Concentrate on submitting to Him, lifting up His Son, and all will be well with your soul.

And now, a few verses of Scripture...

• For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.  (Psalms 18:27)
• He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.  (Psalms 25:9)
• The LORD lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground.  (Psalms 147:6)
• For the LORD takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.  (Psalms 149:4)
• Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.  (Proverbs 3:34)
• When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.  (Proverbs 11:2)
• All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:2)
• But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  (James 4:6, 7) 
• Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,  (1 Peter 5:5b, 6)
• And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:14, 15)

The High Cost of High-Handedness

When you break God’s law without meaning to, what should happen? A couple days ago my wife and I read the answer to that question in Numbers 15. God told Moses what sacrifices to offer when the nation or an individual sins unintentionally (vv. 22, 27).

The Lord laid out a path to forgiveness for unintentional sins. He promised that when the priest brought the prescribed offerings, “the congregation…shall be forgiven” (v. 25) and the individual “shall be forgiven” (v. 28). We know this is a picture of the work that Jesus, our Great High Priest, does for His people (see Hebrews 9:11-14).

But there is an exception to God’s provision of a sacrifice for sins. “But the person who does anything with a high hand… reviles the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among the people” (v. 30, ESV).  That’s what the Hebrew literally says: a high hand. The NIV and NASB use the term “defiantly,” and the KJV and NKJV translate the words “presumptuously.”

So in ancient Israel, if you sinned but humbled yourself, God provided a way for you to be forgiven. But if your sin was accompanied by a “high hand,” if you basically said to God, talk to the hand!, you were cut off from the nation.

Immediately after God’s instruction about “high-handedness,” a man was stoned to death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-36). Even more chilling, when Korah and other leaders in Israel demanded the same recognition and authority as Aaron the priest, the Lord opened up the earth to swallow them and their families (see Number 16).

Scripture repeatedly tells us how the Lord hates pride but loves humility.

• These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word (Isaiah 66:2b, NIV).
• The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18).
• Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3).
• God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6b).

 What does it cost us to humble ourselves? Or maybe a better question: What will it cost us if we do not?

Headaches and Angels

Some years ago we thought my wife had a brain tumor. She’d had bad headaches for a while, but they were getting worse. Each time we saw the doctor, he seemed more concerned. He was the one who used the words “brain tumor” for the first time, as he scheduled Dionne for an MRI.

Then we were really worried. The idea that she might have brain cancer was overwhelming to both of us. It was a little over a week till the MRI, and we had some very tough days as we waited for what the brain scan would reveal.

And yet we never said a word to our church. At a time when we most needed prayer and encouragement and support, we didn't even ask for help. I admitted our fears only to my long-time friend and accountability partner, Mark. The day of the MRI, he met us at the hospital, prayed with us, and sat with me while Dionne was undergoing the test. I'll always be grateful that he was there.

Thankfully Dionne didn’t have a tumor, and her headaches stopped. But as I look back I realize that not asking for help from our church family was both unnecessary and prideful.

Many of us find it easy to serve, but difficult to let others serve us. It takes true humility to do both.

Fellowship of the Towel

I admire Christ’s humility. And the more you see of His greatness and glory, the more astounding it is that He was humble.

Humility seems to be about giving up control, especially if you have a legitimate right to it. Humble people are willing not to be in charge. They are willing to submit.

Humility is about taking a low position when you have a claim on a high one. It’s about the willingness to do a menial task to serve others, when your skills and experience qualify you for a much higher job. Humility is admirable only when the one displaying it comes from a legitimately high position and voluntarily takes a low one.

We don’t think it’s particularly laudable when a death-row prisoner behaves humbly toward his guards. A first-year biology student isn’t applauded if she is humble toward her PhD. professor. A man convicted of embezzling is required to speak to school children about why stealing is wrong. But we don’t think much of his humility in doing so. 

And humility is praiseworthy when it actually involves giving up control. A wealthy entrepreneur (picture Donald Trump) might act kindly and generously, maybe even sacrificially, toward others. But he probably maintains complete control of all of it. Humility means submission.