Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
If you have kids, you know that one of the scariest moments in life is becoming a first-time parent. You are now responsible for the life of another human being that is 100% dependent on you. That was certainly my experience when I had my first kid—I did not feel prepared in any way, shape, or form. What made it even worse was that I was unemployed when our daughter was born. As the man of the house, it was my responsibility to provide, and I didn't know how to do it. I had started sending out applications here and there between bottle feedings. I tried to start up my own business. I had done so many odds-and-ends jobs just to scrape by.
Then I remember in this job hunt finding myself at a point where I just felt like I had to boast and brag about every little thing. If you've been on the job hunt for a long time, you'll know that your resume starts to become a little more embellished, for lack of a better word. At worst, it just becomes lies—because all you're trying to do is prove to other people that you are worth something. You want to convince them that you are better than you actually are. But the Bible tells us that when we feel helpless and we want things to change, there's something better—someone better—to boast in, that will help us in those difficult circumstances.
Our Verse of the Day comes from Psalm chapter 34, verses 2 and three. David writes this in a time of trouble: "I will boast only in the LORD; let all who are helpless take heart. Come, let us tell of the LORD’s greatness; let us exalt His name together."
When We're Insecure, We Boast
You don't often think about people who are helpless being in the same category as people who struggle with boasting. Yet, when you think about times like my job hunt, that's the exact time we start to boast—when we're insecure, when we're worried, when we want to give a different perception of who we actually are. If you're worried about people finding you lazy, you're going to start boasting about how hard you work and all the time you invest in the workplace, how you woke up early and stayed up late. If you feel insecure about how much money you have, you try to present yourself in a way that doesn't make you seem broke. When you don't want people to think that you're lonely or antisocial, you try to set up a presence on social media, or you talk about all the things you did over the weekend just to seem like you're not sitting on your couch at home alone again.
It's these insecurities that lead us into these moments of boasting. But the reality is those are just masks—just diversions to get people to not see what we don't want them to see, and to look at something that may or may not actually be there. Just a way of covering up this feeling of falling short.
The Gospel Says Something Different
That's not the message of the Bible and the Gospel. It's not a message of faking it or presenting ourselves to be something we're not. It's not a story of pushing through and just barely holding on while trying to convince other people that we're actually thriving. When Jesus gave His first teachings in the Beatitudes, He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs shall be the Kingdom of heaven." Poor in spirit means you don't have anything to bring, and you admit it. Because the Gospel is a story of redemption. It's a story of salvation, a story of people who couldn't do anything, and the story of a wonderful God who did everything to give us new life so that we could thrive.
That's so powerful to me. There can be so many things I'm insecure about in life, and it really doesn't help to boast to make myself look better. The only thing worth boasting in is our wonderful God, the God who came down from heaven to live life among us so that we might be lifted with Him for all of eternity. If you find yourself in a moment where you're struggling—just like David was here in the Psalms—if you feel helpless, there's one thing I encourage you to do. Boast in the Lord. Exalt His name. Shout to the world: I'm not great, but my God is. And He will always be by my side.
