December 10, 2023 - Proverbs 13:10

“Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.” Proverbs 13:10 (NIV)

Lord, we want to have humble hearts. Pride will do nothing but destroy us and turn our hearts from you. Teach us how to walk humbly. Teach us how to prefer others over ourselves. Help us get over having to have our own way or be right all the time. Help us learn to be quick to apologize to you or others as soon as needed.

“Where there is strife, there is pride” is not easy to hear. How often do we find ourselves in a place of strife? Probably more often than we admit. When we get in those places, help us to pause and evaluate our motives quickly and honestly. If there is any pride involved, we want to be quick to replace the pride with humility.

Jesus, I think of how you handled your many encounters with the Pharisees. When they purposely tried to trick you and cause you problems, you didn’t react to them, but responded in wisdom and humility. Your response would typically shut down the situation instead of escalating it. Teach us how to do that. Show us how to stop, listen to your voice, and respond with your wisdom. Let us always trust in you to be our defense and not feel like we need to fight back. Give us the patience and strength to walk out what you are asking, even if it might feel like we are being walked on or it doesn’t seem fair. We thank you that you are our defender, and you will always do a much better job of that than we can do ourselves.

We want to take your advice. We want to live by your Word. Increase our ability to stop, listen, and hear your voice. Give us friends that know you, your voice, and your Word. Friends that will speak into our lives even if what they have to say is hard to hear. If that is the case, let us walk humbly and receive it. Lord, we ask for you to mark our lives with wisdom and humility.

In Jesus name, amen.