October 14, 2024: God Resists the Proud

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).

Dear Praying Friends:

In January 2013, while driving home from a conference at which I had given a paper that was well received, I was inflated with self-confidence. Not because of the paper, for I knew that it was the product of your prayers, but as a result of a grossly exaggerated estimate of my academic competence in several fields.

This self-deception was utterly deflated a few days later when I was diagnosed with the flu, strep throat, and “a light touch of early pneumonia.” I spent the next several months mostly in bed lamenting my arrogance.

This was a reminder that any illness, and indeed, my very life, depends upon God’s mercy alone, and not on anything I have done.

Thank you for praying last week.

Two new stories have been added to the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity (https://www.bdcconline.net/).

My biographical history of the China Inland Mission is now available for purchase online (https://book.endao.co/en/product/ip183/); with a reading sample at https://pdf.timotai.org/book/cim_en/index.html#page=1.

T. wrote me to say that she has finally been granted a visa to study in Germany. Now she has to leave as soon as possible to get there before school starts.

For your prayers (Pick two or three): Please ask God to

• Remind us all daily to humble ourselves before him in absolute dependence upon his mercy and grace.
• Enable T. to leave China quickly, travel smoothly to Germany, and begin graduate studies on time.

“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

Yours in his grace,
Wright