Humility and Exaltation.
He that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Luke 14:11 and Luke 18:13. [Luke 14:11 states, "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." This verse serves as the concluding moral for the Parable of the Guests, teaching that self-promotion leads to humiliation, while humility results in being honored by God. ] [Luke 18:13 describes the tax collector standing at a distance, refusing to lift his eyes to heaven, and beating his breast while praying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” This verse contrasts the tax collector’s humility and repentance with the self-righteousness of the Pharisee who prayed immediately before him. The tax collector’s posture signifies his awareness of unworthiness and deep sorrow for his sins, recognizing that he cannot earn God’s favor through works or comparison to others. Instead, he relies entirely on God’s mercy, making God the subject of his prayer while acknowledging himself as the object of that mercy. This act of genuine contrition is central to the biblical theme that those who humble themselves will be exalted, while those who exalt themselves will be humbled. ]
God giveth grace to the humble.
Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he shall exalt you. James 4:10.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. 1 Peter 5:6.
Just yesterday, someone asked me, "How can I conquer this pride?"
The answer is simple. Two things are needed.
1 Do what God says is your work.
2 Humble yourself.
Trust God to do what he says is his work. He will exalt you.
The command is clear. Humble yourself.
But this does not mean that it is your task to conquer pride in your own strength or to create within yourself the lowliness of Jesus.
That work belongs to God alone.
It is the very heart of the exaltation God promises to lift you into the true likeness of his beloved son.
What the command does mean is this. Take every opportunity to humble yourself before God and before others.
Do it in faith believing that grace is already at work in you. Do it in the confidence that more grace will come bringing victory.
Whenever your conscience reveals pride, its stirrings or its fruits, respond even in weakness and failure by remaining under God's unchanging command.
Humble yourself.
Receive with thankfulness whatever God allows, whether from within or without, from friend or enemy, from nature or grace that shows you your need of humbling and helps you toward it.
Count humility as the mother of all virtue, your first duty before God, the constant safeguard of the soul.
Set your heart on it as the wellspring of every blessing.
The promise is divine and sure.
He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Do the one thing God asks. Humble yourself.
God will do the one thing he has promised. He will give more grace.
He will exalt you in due time.
All God's dealings with mankind follow a pattern of two stages.
First comes the time of preparation, a season marked by command and promise, mixed with our own efforts, our weakness, our failures, and partial successes.
In this stage, a holy longing for something more is stirred. A deeper hunger, a greater expectation.
All this serves to train and prepare the soul for something higher.
Then comes the time of fulfillment when faith inherits the promise and the soul finally enjoys what it once sought in vain.
This two-fold pattern is true of every part of the Christian life and of every single grace we pursue.
It is so because it is grounded in the very nature of redemption.
In all things, God must take the first step.
Once God has begun the work, our part follows. Not to complete it in our strength, but to strive and struggle until we learn our utter inability and in that self-despair die to ourselves.
Then we are ready willingly and knowingly to receive from God the completion of what we had once begun in ignorance.
So the God who was there at the beginning before we truly knew him or understood his purpose is now longed for and received as the end as the one who is truly all in all.
It is the same in the pursuit of humility.
To every believer comes the clear command from the throne of God.
Humble yourself.
And to the one who earnestly seeks to obey, there will come, yes, as a reward, two painful discoveries.
First, the depth of pride still within. The deep resistance to being counted as nothing. The unwillingness to fully submit to God.
Pride that was once hidden now stands exposed.
Second, the utter powerlessness of our own efforts, even our prayers to destroy that pride. We cannot overcome it ourselves.
Blessed is the one who in this discovery puts all his or her hope in God and continues despite the pride still working within in simple acts of humbling himself or herself before God and before others.
We know the pattern of human nature. Acts form habits. Habits shape dispositions. Dispositions mold the will. And the rightly formed will becomes character.
So it is in the work of grace.
As acts of humility are repeated, they form humble habits and a humble heart.
And then He who works in us both to will and to do comes with His power and His spirit.
The proud heart that once cast itself down again and again before God in weakness is now met with more grace.
That heart becomes truly humble. The spirit of Jesus, the meek and lowly one, has conquered.
The new nature has grown to maturity. And Christ, the humble One, now dwells there forever.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
And what is this exaltation?
The highest glory of any creature is to be a vessel to receive, enjoy, and reveal the glory of God.
But this can only happen when the creature is willing to be nothing in itself so that God may be all.
Water always fills the lowest places. So too, the lower and more empty a man lies before God, the quicker and fuller will be the inflow of God's own glory.
The exaltation that God gives is not some outward reward, something separate from Himself. No, all that God gives is more of Himself, taking fuller possession of the soul.
This exaltation is not a prize given from the outside unrelated to the humbling that came before.
Rather, it is the direct result, an outflow of humility.
It is nothing less than the gift of a deeper divine humility. The very humility of the Lamb of God, forming us into His likeness and preparing us to receive more fully the indwelling of God Himself.
Whoever humbles himself will be lifted up.
Jesus Christ himself proves these words true, and he is the guarantee that they will be fulfilled in us.
Let us take his yoke and learn from him, for he is gentle and humble in heart.
If we are willing to bow down to him as he bowed down to us, he will stoop to us again and we will find ourselves joined with him in perfect fellowship.
As we share more deeply in his humility, whether by humbling ourselves or by enduring the humbling of others, we can be sure that the spirit of his exaltation, the spirit of God and of glory will rest upon us.
The presence and power of the risen Christ will be with those who are humble in spirit.
When God is given His rightful place in us, he will lift us up.
Make it your care to seek his glory by humbling yourself. He will make it his care to give you glory by completing your humility and filling you with the spirit of his son as your very life.
When the life of God fully fills you, nothing will seem more natural or sweeter than to be nothing yourself, with no thought or desire for self.
Because your whole being is taken up with Him who fills all, then you can truly say, "I will gladly rejoice in my weakness, so that the strength of Christ may rest upon me."
Brother, sister, is this not the reason our consecration and faith have brought so little fruit in the pursuit of holiness?
The work was done in in the power of self, though we called it faith.
God was sought for self's happiness.
The soul rejoiced not in God alone, but in self and its own holiness.
We did not understand that true holiness is rooted in humility.
Deep constant Christlike humility that forgets self marks every part of life before God and man. Only in possessing God do I lose myself.
Just as the smallness of a speck of dust is seen when it floats in the wide glory of the sunlight, so humility is simply taking our place before God, being nothing but a speck shining in the light of his love.
How great is God? How small am I? Lost, swallowed up in love's immensity. God only there, not I.
May God teach us that to be humble, to be nothing in his presence is the highest honor and the richest blessing of the Christian life. He says, "I dwell in the high and holy place and with the one who is of a contrite and humble spirit. May this be our portion, oh to be emptier, lower, unknown, unnoticed and despised, yet to God a vessel holier, filled with Christ and Christ alone.
Chapter 13 - A Secret of Secrets: Humility the Soul of True Prayer ( continue here )
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