The boasting axe...

Music, most specifically singing, has always been a part of my life. Musical ability runs deep in our family. It goes back several generations and it is something that many have always been a part of and it has usually been in a setting of church or some sort of venue for a worship type service. As a child, I heard my dad sing and was totally blown away by the strength and power of his voice and how he could move a crowd to tears or cheers simply by the way that he lead the song and the dynamics with which he sang. I began to sing in church when I was six years old. My dad always told me that anytime someone tells you, "Good job." or "That was a beautiful song.", that you should immediately turn that to praise for God. Many times I saw my dad speak silently with his lips, "Thank you Lord." when someone would give him a praise. It's been twenty years since I received that bit of advice and it's something that I've tried to practice in my own musical career.
It is easy to say that pride is the enemy of humility. However, I would say that pride in one's self is the enemy of humility. If we have pride in ourselves, we take glory away from God. We can do absolutely nothing without the power that God gives us to accomplish whatever it is that we are doing. If someone comes up to me after a service and says, "Thank you so much. That was a great time of worship." it would be easy for me to develop of since of pride in myself. It would be easy for me to think, "Wow, I did really well." However, if I have the attitude that the Holy Spirit worked through me then I can have great pride and boast in my God that he is capable of using someone like me to achieve his glory. That is humbling. I blows my mind to think that God is so great and so powerful that he can use me to facilitate worship and lead people to his throne of mercy. I am proud of that. I am proud of the power of my Savior. He is great and he is worthy of my praise. I am not worthy of praise, none of us are.
It's actually somewhat odd to me that we think that we are capable of anything. The Bible tells us that nothing has authority or power unless God has placed that someone or something in a place of authority and given them the power that they have. After all where does all power and authority come from except from God who is the ultimate authority over all of eternity and creation? I've been reading in Isaiah and in chapter ten Isaiah is talking about the king of Assyria that God is allowing to be in power and to basically wreck shop on the Israelites because of their disobedience to God. The king of Assyria begins to boast in himself and not in God for the power and things that God has allowed him to do and to see. The king says, "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones." Arrogant? Do we not do the same thing? The student ministry that God has allowed me to be a part of has been growing and we are seeing movement among our students and they are beginnning to tell their friends and family about the hope that is Christ. The worship band that I lead with is coming together in great ways and sounding better than before. It would be easy for me to take pride in that and think that we had some great part in it. I can bring no one to the throne of God. I can save no one. I can give no one eternal forgiveness. I am not God. Later in that same chapter the Lord says this of the king, "Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!" God really lays out that he is the one who moves us and uses us. We are simply the tools of His will and His glory. We can do nothing on our own. Should that be a troubling thought? I think not. I feel as though it should be a great comfort. I know me and you know the depths of who you are. Thankfully, it doesn't rely on us. If it did, it would fail.