“Let’s be honest with God.”
We hear that statement a lot, and yes, it’s true, we should never be dishonest with God. It’s not like we can deceive someone who literally knows everything anyway. Trying to hide something from the Almighty is an exercise in futility, just ask Adam and Eve.
The key to getting help from God is being honest with ourself. We must be willing to humble ourself in order to receive the grace God has for us. In several places, the Bible tells us that God gives grace to the humble. As I have mentioned before, grace is not a reward for humility (then it wouldn’t be grace) but humbling ourself puts us in a position to receive what God wants to give us to help us in our current situation.
All to often, however, we aren’t willing to admit our need for God’s help. Our pride deludes us into believing that we are strong enough to survive on our own. We deceive ourself into believing that we can just pick ourself up by our bootstraps, muck on, push forward and we can get through anything.
Psalm 130 is David’s account of a dark and desperate time in his life. He describes himself as crying out to God from the depths of despair.
David, the great king, the undefeated warrior, the leader of might men, was literally screaming for help. He got it, too, because he was willing to admit his need for it.
In the Psalms, we find David giving so many descriptive names and titles to God: “refuge”, “fortress”, “strong tower”, “very present help”, and a host of others. These names reflected what David had experienced from God’s grace in so many desperate circumstances throughout his life.
God wants to be all of these things and more for you. He will be, for you, as much as you are willing to receive, but you have to get your pride out of the way. The grace is there, it will flow freely to your need once you remove the dams of denial, self-reliance, fear of the opinion of others, unbelief, or any other feeling that hinders you from crying our for help.
Don’t kid yourself into believing you can get by without God’s help.
David humbled himself, was honest with God (and himself) about his need, and received the grace that God had for him.
Will you?