We Are Our Own Worst Enemy

I got some good advice years ago about growing plants.  If your plant doesn’t seem to be doing very well, the first step to recovery is to stop doing what you have been doing.  The plant should do better.  And it usually does!  A similar adage goes, if you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging.  Both of these speak to the same problem: all too often our difficulties begin with us.  We are the root of our problem.  Hey, the same is true for spiritual problems.  When I have problems with my wife, and problems with my children, and problems with people at church, usually, the real problem is with me.  Solomon said in Proverbs 1:29-31, “For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.”  When we choose to go our own way, we shouldn’t be surprised when we have trouble.  Just like Pogo said in the funny papers years go, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”  And the first step to solving our problems is to realize that we need to change.  The old gospel song goes,

Not my brother, not my sister,

   but it’s me, O Lord,

Standin’ in the need of prayer;

Not the preacher not the deacon,

   but it’s me, O Lord,

Standin’ in the need of prayer.

It’s me, it’s me,

   O Lord;

Standin’ in the need of prayer.