The Life of Humility: Part Two

Chapter Thirty-two:

Jesus said that the broken man is truly a blessed man (Matthew 5:3). While the process of God working humility into our life can be painful and unpleasant, it is a vital part of our walk before the world and God. Humility means you are willing for God to teach you new things.  It is where we guard our heart to keep it humble before God and in that time He will teach us something new, even if we have read the same passage of Scripture before.  Remember, there is always something new to be learned.  It is the humble heart that gains wisdom. Proverbs 11:2 tells us, "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom."  

God gives us freedom when we walk in humility. Humility is being known for who we really are, imperfections and all. It is allowing other's interests to be put before our own and giving up our own rights. It is making God the reference point in our lives. It is having a teachable spirit and being open to what God wants to show us. Humility will affect our attitude towards God.  The humble person earnestly desires to learn from God and has an unquenching thirst to walk close with Him. 

  

Guard your heart so that you do not allow pride to enter into it.  Unfortunately, as it is a part of human nature that we all have to deal with, God will continue to do whatever it takes to work it completely out of us as He knows the damage it can cause to our walk with Him and our ability to grow more like Christ.

 God exalts those who humble themselves, but He also humbles those who exalt themselves.  We do not really grasp what is in our own hearts and what we are capable of.  Only God knows our hearts.   Jeremiah 17:9 describes the human heart in this way, " The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?".  Be prepared...when you ask God to reveal your heart to you as He sees it, He will show you the pride and sin in your life that you may not even know exists.  But also keep in mind that His intention in doing this is so that you can deal with it. God uses those who are broken in a greater way than those who are rigid and unyielding to His will. Have the attitude that whatever or whomever God chooses to use in your life, you will accept it and learn from it.

Isaiah 57:15 says, "For this is what the high and exalted One says—he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite." Humility means being available to God's direction.  No job is too small because you are available to being used by God as He sees fit.  No job is too big because He is right beside you, helping you and teaching you. Humble people wash dishes as joyfully as those who are preaching to large congregations!

Andrew Murray, 1828 - 1917, was a man who pastored many churches in South Africa.  He said this about humility, "Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is for me to have no trouble; never to be fretted or vexed or irritated or sore or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and be at peace as in a deep sea of calmness when all around is trouble. It is the fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ’s redemptive work on Calvary’s cross, manifested in those of His own who are definitely subject to the Holy Spirit."

Until our pride is dealt with, we cannot truly walk humbly before God or men.  It is the result of a deep consciousness of personal guilt before God over our sin, our seeing our need for a Savior and then drawing close to Christ as a result. Humility is simply a heart that sees itself as it really is before a most Holy God.  It is a place of openness and honesty before Him.  It is being yielded so that He can use us for His glory.  And, for the true believer, it is being willing to be moldable and yielding to Him and His will for our lives.

You can know that you are proceeding to becoming truly humble if you ever experience an inner revulsion when you receive the glory for something rather than God receiving it.  Isaiah 48:11 is an example of God wanting to receive the credit, "For my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another."

 

A. W. Tozer said, "Jesus calls us to His rest and meekness is His method.  The meek man cares not at all who is greater than he, for he has long ago decided the esteem of the world is not worth the effort.  He develops toward himself a kindly sense of humor and learns to say, 'Oh, so you have been overlooked?  They have placed someone else before you? They have whispered that you are pretty small stuff after all? And now you feel hurt because the world is saying about you the very thing you have been saying about yourself?  Only yesterday you were telling God that you were nothing, a mere worm of dust.  Where is your consistency? Come on, humble yourself, and cease to care what men think.' "  

How do you respond when you are truly used of God?  Do you want to walk in humility even if it means Him showing you the pride and deceitfulness that is hiding in your heart? As Oswald Chambers said, "The greatest characteristic of a saint is humility as is evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, 'Yes, all those, as well as other evils, would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God."  We can have the assurance that God watches over and cares for those who walk in humility.