Who am I? I know who I was. I was a pitiable, despicable, and contemptible person. At times I was mean and miserable. Many times, I found myself in very unfortunate conditions and circumstances. The Apostle Paul gave a vivid description of me; “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24 KJV). The Prophet Isaiah was even more graphic; “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6 KJV). Even if I thought for a second that there was at least a little good in me, King David made certain that I knew that wasn’t true; “Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm 53:3 KJV). The Prophet Isaiah confirms the fact that I am not alone because he makes it clear that none of us were any good; “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6 KJV). To make sure that we’ve got that point down pat, Paul reiterates it again; “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10 KJV). Whatever good I thought I had in me was nothing but pride because even our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ says there is only One that is good; “And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God” (Mark 10:18 KJV). A true obedient Christian believer knows not to think too much of themselves (Romans 12:3).
God has a purpose for all of our lives. Mordecai reminded Esther what could happen if she thought too highly of herself just because God put her in a good place; “Don’t think that just because you live in the king’s house you’re the one Jew who will get out of this alive. If you persist in staying silent at a time like this, help and deliverance will arrive for the Jews from someplace else; but you and your family will be wiped out. Who knows? Maybe you were made queen for just such a time as this” (Esther 4:13 The Message). If we read our Holy Bibles very carefully, we will see clearly, ‘Who’ is really in control:
- God created – Genesis 1:1
- God moved – Genesis 1:2
- God divided – Genesis 1:4
- God called – Genesis 1:5
- God made – Genesis 1:7
- God led – Exodus 13:18
- God blessed – Romans 9:5
- God doeth this – Numbers 24:23
- God shall deliver – 2 Chronicles 32:11
- God of heaven hath given – Daniel 2:37
- The Lord stirred up – Haggai 1:14
There are many examples of people in the Holy Bible who knew who they really were. We demonstrate true humility when we tell the truth about ourselves; “Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?” (2 Samuel 7:18 KJV). King David was seen as a man after God’s own heart because David told the truth about himself; “I’m not very important, and neither is my family” (1 Samuel 18:18 CEV). People that are honest about themselves know that the truth is that we don’t deserve to be allowed to stand in God’s presence; “Sovereign LORD, I am not worthy of what you have already done for me, nor is my family” (2 Samuel 7:18 GNT). It’s a rhetorical question because many of us already know the answer. If you don’t know the answer then ask Moses. Moses was considered the meekest man on earth because he told the truth about himself; “I am nobody” (Exodus 3:11 GNT). Lord, why am I so important to you? Why is my family important? Why have you made me so important? Why have you showered your blessings on such an insignificant person as I am? What is my family, that you have brought me to this place in life? For the honest Christian believer, the answer is always the same; “God, you’ve done all this not because of who I am but because of who you are” (Exodus 3:11 The Message). The attitude for those that honestly love the Lord is also always the same; “LORD God, you have done so much for me and my family. And I don’t understand why” (1 Chronicles 17:16 ERV). God gives grace to the humble but the humble are those that tell the truth about themselves (1 Chronicles 17:16). A true demonstration of King Solomon’s wisdom was shown when he asked that same simple question; “…Who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee” (1 Chronicles 29:14 KJV).
But me, ‘Who am I.?’, and who are all the fellow believers that you’ve allowed to be in my life that we should presume to be giving something to you? Everything comes from God and when we give anything back to the Lord all we are doing is giving back what we’ve been given from His generous hand (1 Chronicles 29:14). When we express an attitude of humility and we demonstrate our love for the Lord by obeying His Word then God allows us to do great things for Him; “But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? Who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?” (2 Chronicles 2:6 KJV). When we commit our lives to obey the Lord’s commands, we should always give Him our best efforts because our God is far better than any other competing gods, beliefs, and religions. But if we are honest then we will always ask the same rhetorical question, “‘Who am I.?’, to think I can do anything for God? All we are good for is to give sacrifices to Him. We need His help.” We need Jesus Christ to save us and the Holy Spirit to help us. Nehemiah lets us know that the real indication that we know for ourselves how helpless we really are without the Holy Spirit is what we do when someone asks us what we want in life; “Then the king said to me, “What do you want me to do?” Before I answered, I prayed to the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 2:4 KJV).
Submitted by Trustee Stanley Ridley