“Keep Me From Exalting Myself”

Neal Pollard

There is no prayer in scripture where any person asked this specific thing of God.  Men asked, “Keep me from wicked hands” (Ps. 140:4), “keep me from harm and pain” (1 Chron. 4:10), and “keep me safe” (Ps. 17:8).  Instead, humankind suffers from an all-too common tendency of exalting self.  We want people to know what good people we think we are, what we have done for the Lord and for others, what talents and abilities we possess, what enviable people we are in any number of regards.  But to have the wisdom, humility and foresight to pray “keep me from exalting myself” is not a thing that will naturally occur.  However, may I say that nothing could be more necessary and helpful in any of our lives.

The words, “keep me from exalting myself,” are not only found in the Bible, they are found twice in one verse.  The verse is familiar to most Bible students and its context so widely known that secular people borrow a phrase from it to describe the difficulties in their lives, too.  The verse is 2 Corinthians 12:7, where Paul writes, “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-to keep me from exalting myself!”  See, it is not a prayer of humility.  It is an acknowledgement of a fact.  Paul was undoubtedly a special person and probably one of the most special people who ever lived.  Beyond that, he was an apostle and the recipient of “great revelations.”  He wrote half of the New Testament.  He planted the church in Europe and throughout the Gentile world.  He preached to the king of the world.  What a VIP!  What an asset to the Lord’s cause.

Yet, what a wise man.  He knew what that “thorn in the flesh” was meant to do.  He notes what it did–it tormented him.  It hurt and burdened him.  But he also knew why it was there.  He says it twice.  “It’s to keep me from exalting myself!”

We have not achieved the greatness of Paul but we each have ample reason to pray, “Keep me from exalting myself.”  Wendell Winkler used to tell us preacher boys that we should pray before we stood to preach, “Lord, help me to hide behind the cross and so preach that people leave saying, ‘Oh, what a Savior’ and not ‘Oh, what a preacher.'”  May I suggest that no matter who we are, we must “hide behind the cross.”  We must be people wholly disinterested in thrusting ourselves out before the public eye in the hope of receiving the admiration, praise, and recognition of man.  May it not take a thorn!