The Wisdom to Not Seek Power

In the current Magic: the Gathering storyline, there are multiple factions who are each trying to find Orazca, the lost city of gold. Apparently, there's a magical artifact there called the Immortal Sun, and each faction wants to claim that artifact and use its power for their own reasons.

Except for one.

One of the factions in play is a group of merfolk, who, being deeply in-tune with the magic of the world, could probably find the lost city fairly easily, yet they choose not to live there, and they have especially chosen not to wield the powerful artifact that they could find within. Their reason for this is that they don't trust themselves to use the power wisely. They know that, if they held the power of the Immortal Sun, they'd be tempted to abuse it.

I think that this level of introspection and self-restraint is commendable, and I share their concern. I mostly don't want to hold power because I don't want to hold the responsibility that comes with it, but I also worry that I would probably lose control of whatever power I was given. Sometimes, when I need to "vent" negative energy, I pretend to shoot lightning bolts to get the negative energy out of my system. I'd hate to think of what might happen if it wasn't pretend. If I actually had the power to shoot lightning bolts, I might hurt someone by accident, or, even worse, not.

I wouldn't trust myself with lightning powers, or any other superpowers, any more than the merfolk trust themselves with the power of the Immortal Sun. Ultimately, I hope to develop enough responsibility to prove worthy of holding power, but I have a long way to go before I reach that point. Thankfully, helping me reach that point is part of the reason God allowed me to be born.

Life is a proving ground. We were each given a certain amount of power, mostly to see what we would do with it and to teach us how to use our power responsibly. For example, God gave me the power to speak and write, and so, part of my life's purpose is to learn how to speak and write wisely and responsibly. If God can't trust me to control my own tongue, how could He ever trust me with lightning powers? Fortunately, I have time (an eternity, in fact) to become responsible enough for God to trust with the power He wants to give us, but until we prove worthy, it is wise for us to not seek out, or be given, any more power than we can responsibly handle.