Humility Over Ego

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

HUMILITY OVER EGO

1 Kings 16:8-14

8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah two years. 9 Zimri, one of his officials, who had command of half his chariots, plotted against him. Elah was in Tirzah at the time, getting drunk in the home of Arza, the man in charge of the palace at Tirzah. 10 Zimri came in, struck him down and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah. Then he succeeded him as king. 11 As soon as he began to reign and was seated on the throne, he killed off Baasha's whole family. He did not spare a single male, whether relative or friend. 12 So Zimri destroyed the whole family of Baasha, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken against Baasha through the prophet Jehu— 13 because of all the sins Baasha and his son Elah had committed and had caused Israel to commit, so that they provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their worthless idols. 14 As for the other events of Elah's reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

NIV

We know that Elah did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and once again he was killed. Zimri is another of these characters who is all about self, as he plotted against his king. He was a commander in the army of Israel, in charge of half the chariots. He had a prominent position in the army of Israel, but that was not enough for him. His ego got the best of him, and his plot against Elah ended in murder. Zimri did the exact thing to all who belonged to Baasha as he did to all who belonged to Jeroboam. The prophet had said that all who belonged to the house of Baasha, that dogs would eat all those who lived in the city, and birds would eat all who lived in the country. Elah's reign was doomed because of all the evil he did in the eyes of the LORD. The story here is about this revolt, Zimri's plotting. The end of Elah was from the hand of God, but was Zimri the instrument of the hand of God, or was it that the foreknowledge of God knew of the ego, the self-centeredness of Zimri, that he would take the life of Elah? We know God has used pagan countries to invade and capture Israel because of their disobedience. God could have used Zimri in the same manner, causing him to take the life of Elah, but that does not seem to match the character of God we know. However, what we should learn here is threefold. First, never to be like any of those kings who did evil in the eyes of the LORD. Secondly, do not let our ego get the best of us so that we would plot against anyone for personal gain. Thirdly, we must make sure we do not have any worthless idols. It is necessary that we examine ourselves, even have the Lord examine our hearts to see if we have made anything into an idol, understanding that any idol is worthless, as it cannot give us life. This comes back to Jesus' teaching about not serving two masters. We may not actually serve an idol, other than giving it much of our time, because we think it will give us personal gain. This might be the case when we store up wealth for our older years, but we cannot guarantee we will have it. Wealth, position, and power, or anything that feeds our ego, can become an idol.  Pridefulness is a byproduct of the ego, which becomes an idol because of the “good deeds” we think we do. Jesus said that we are to learn from him, as he is gentle and humble of heart. When we learn to become humble, first before God, but also before others, we set our ego aside, and become a servant, and if we happen to occupy a position of leadership, as Zimri did, instead of plotting, we become servant leaders. That is where humility strikes down the ego. Can there be a humble ego? It must be humility over ego.