Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

1 Samuel, chapter 9, verse 21.

Saul answered,

Am I not a Benjaminite from the least of the tribes of Israel?

And is not my clan the humblest of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin?

Why then have you spoken to me in this way?

This is such a surprising verse as we listen to these words from Saul and we think about who he later became, this prideful king who is focused on

himself and what others thought about him and who was

quick to disobey God in order to preserve himself. But that's not how he started. This picture in 1st

Samuel 9, verse 21, is such a remarkable picture of humility. Saul's overwhelmed that he might be the next king.

Like, who is he? He asks, from the least of the tribes of Israel, from the humblest of all the clans

of that tribe. Like, who am I? And in this way, in this picture of humility that changes in the

days to come in Saul's life, I think we see a clear picture that we need to pray for humility

in each of our lives and to cultivate humility on an ongoing basis. We are all

prone to pride. And it may look different in different lives, but this is our sinful nature

inside of us. When you read mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and you see his chapter on pride, the greatest of all sins, really in a sense the core of all sin.

In Genesis chapter 3, God's not going to tell us what to do.

We're going to do what we want to do.

We're going to trust ourselves over God.

We're going to obey our instincts instead of God's word.

It's pride that's at the core of all sin, which means we need humility.

We need to pray for it. We need to cultivate it at the core of

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