Paul said, “Because of this great revelation, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me” (2 Corinthians 12:7).  How have we done with the buffeting in our lives?  How have we handled the thorn in our flesh?  Now, don’t roll your eyes over at anybody.  But how have we dealt with the thorn in our flesh?  The areas in our life that are besetting sins, where God is constantly bringing about the refining process; amen?  “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God” (1 Peter 5:6).  “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth” (Hebrews 12:6).  Humility sees chastisement for what it truly is: the love of God.  And many of us, we fail in these times of the trials and the testing because we don’t count them joy, like James admonishes us.  Humility counts temptations, tests, and trials, and responds with joy.  Responds with joy.  “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience” (James 1:2‑3); amen?  Consistency, endurance, let it work.  Humble yourself.  Let it work.  Don’t try to discover some avenue out of the love of God.  Out of the purification of God, out of the building of character in our lives.

The man who will humble himself knows that he doesn’t know better.  “This is God’s will.  This is exactly what I need to be experiencing right now.  And God’s going to work it to His glory, hallelujah.”  That’s humility.  How do you handle the trials?  How do you handle those times when God brings you down?  I asked the men in the meeting yesterday, “How easy is it for you to stand before your wife and your children and just say, ‘I was wrong.  I was wrong in this decision.  I was wrong in the way I applied the Scriptures.  I was self-willed.  I tried to put off my will as the will of God and I was wrong.’”  How easy do you find that?  Or do we have to preface it?  “You know, everybody makes mistakes.”  We’re not talking about everybody.  We’re talking about you, right now, who are wrong; amen?

Do you delight in being able to do that?  Many of us prior to experiencing this purification, this application of humility in our lives are almost as bad as President Trump.  I don’t know if I’ve heard anybody who stands so arrogantly and says, “I’ve never apologized to anybody.”  Well, that shows how big of a fool you are.  You don’t have to admire character if you’re talking about politics, when you can see in the political realm, things that were done that were good for our country.  I won’t say it.  Yes, I will.  Because I’ve experienced it personally.  God’s spoken from a donkey before He can do it again.  What arrogance.  “I’ve never apologized to anybody.”  Well, that means you’ve never been wrong.  Now if you have an hour, I can give you a list of things I’ve seen this month.