Humbled

“He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭25‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I’m not sure there is anything more humbling than sitting behind a laptop and wanting to punch it.

Yes. I wanted to punch. Kick. Throw. Set it ablaze. I wanted to destroy that little device that was supposed to bring relief. But it brought something other than that.

I thought everything was going well last night setting up a new laptop at 9 pm. That is until I tried to install the antivirus.

It asked for an administrator email and password.

I put in my email and password.

Incorrect.

I tried again.

Wrong.

I tried again.

Error.

I wanted to scream at the laptop and tell it, “I know that is my email and password! It just worked!”

Chatted with IT from Dell. Did what they said.

Nope.

Chatted with a second person from IT. Did what they recommended.

Nada.

Chatted with another IT person and at 2 am went to sleep with dreams of my laptop working when I woke up. I woke up at 6 am seeing my screen lit showing the download was complete. My heart fluttered. I punched in my email and password.

Wrong!

So I chatted with Dell again for 2 hours.

Can you say I was bubbling. Boiling. Fuming. Stirring with tension ready to explode onto my trusty laptop like Mt. Vesuvius on Pompeii.

I was ready to watch its demise.

It’s humbling knowing how reliant we are on technology. It’s also humbling seeing how stressed I got with something so minor in the grand scheme of things.

I had a friend remind me this morning that this was just a small hiccup causing me to rely on God even more.

It’s humbling seeing I thought I had it figured out and didn’t need Him because I understand computers. I know technology. I know how to set these things up.

It’s humbling how quickly pride rises in situations when we think we have it all figured out.

Well, I think I finally got the laptop fixed. It’s working. It may not have been the way I planned, but it’s working.

And looking back, I never prayed for help. I never prayed for guidance. I never prayed for peace or resolve or a miracle (because I was that desperate).

But I never turned to Him in this.

Why not? Why didn’t I turn to the one that knows all?

Because I thought I knew.

It’s humbling how little I sometimes know.

But I was humbled in good ways this week as well.

Kind words.

Encouraging praises.

Pats on the back.

Humility comes from both sides. Sometimes we’re barely standing because God is pouring so much blessing. And sometimes we’re barely standing but not from the weight of blessings, but the weight of the world on our shoulders.

But in both situations, God is there to lift us up. He’s there ready to carry the weight. He’s there to give us rest.

He’s always there.

In the good times and bad.

In the warm summer days and freezing winter nights.

In the spring showers and hurricane winds.

In the happy marriages and tense conflicts.

In the days of health and the periods of sickness.

In carefree days and train wreck weeks.

No matter where you are, God is there with you.

Sometimes it takes a little humbling to remind us how dependent we are.

But when we are humbled, we can rest assured, He has a plan.

A plan of hope.