In my office, I have a picture painted by my friend Bill Armstrong. He heard me tell a story in a sermon about a turtle on a fencepost. Alex Haley said, “If you ever find a turtle on a fence post, you know he had some help getting there.” So Bill painted a beautiful house with a wonderful fence and on top of one of the posts was a turtle. He painted it to remind me of what I had said.
For a second time, David wanted to do something for God but encountered a roadblock. David wanted to build a temple for Israel. Nathan told him to go ahead but God said, “Not so fast.” In fact, God told David, “You will not build a house for me but I will build one for you.” David could have been so disappointed. But instead, he was so humble. He sat down before God and prayed, thanking the Lord for promising him descendants. David modeled true humility for us by praying, “Who am I, Lord?”
Generations to come may write about the time we live in as the moment people came to believe pride was good. No matter that the Bible says, “Pride goes before a fall.” Our world has said that pride is good and expected everyone to approve of this notion by acclamation. I am not inclined to vote in favor of this motion. I know the word pride is verbally ambiguous. At its best it connotes gratitude. So often, however, the proud person vaunts himself against God. This does not end well.
What if we designated a time as the time for humility? What if we made it last longer than a day or week or month? What if we declared every day, “Humility Day”? When we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, we will be lifted up. But if we exalt ourselves in the presence of God, we will be humbled. We are turtles on fence posts. If we have achieved anything in this life, we did it with the good gifts and resources God made available.
As an alternative, we might start like David by offering God our humble gratitude. One of our ministers told me they park in front of the fountain at Tallowood to remind themselves of the inscription, “Not to us, O Lord, but to your name be glory because of your love and faithfulness.” We turtles remember.
