Walking with the Wise #19: Finding Favor

“Toward the scorners He is scornful,
 

but to the humble He gives favor.” 

—Proverbs 3:34

I’ve heard it said, “Do you want to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans.” It’s a cute saying meant to remind us that God is in charge of life, not us. He is our Creator, the one who directs our paths, the one who gives us faith, and the one to whom we are accountable. But man, since the Garden, has sought to establish his independence from God, not realizing how foolish or impossible it is. We can no more declare our independence from God than the earth can assert its dependence from the sun. We revolve around Him, not Him around us.

Whenever we meet those who scorn God, we must be on guard, lest we are tempted to participate in such rebellion. Those who hate God, who scorn Him, and seek to mock Him, will discover God responding in the same manner as they to Him. King David captured the essence of this thought in Psalm 18 when he wrote,

 

“With the merciful You show Yourself merciful;
 

with the blameless man You show Yourself blameless;


with the purified You show Yourself pure;
 

and with the crooked You make Yourself seem tortuous.
For You save a humble people,
 

but the haughty eyes You bring down” 

—Psalm 18:25-27.

God responds to the essence and quality of who we are. If we are merciful, He will show Himself to be eminently more merciful. If we are blameless, He will show Himself to be blameless. If we are pure, He will show Himself to be infinitely more pure. But to the crooked, God appears tortuous. Why? Because the crooked will see that God will judge every man according to his deeds. And whenever man scorns or mocks God, He will respond accordingly.

However, for those who love and serve the Lord, we know that He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve. He chose to love us. He chose to send His Son Jesus to die on our behalf in order that we might be forgiven of our sin and spend eternity with Him. But in order to receive this gift, we must humble ourselves. We must become like little children, abandoning any self-righteousness we may have, and accept what He has already done. If we do that, we have stepped into God’s favor. God’s favor does not come because of our accomplishments, but upon the accomplishment of His Son. We have simply appropriated what He has achieved. So, we must humble ourselves. And solely depend on Him.

Have you mocked God? Or have you humbled yourself before Him? Don’t think that you can placate or ignore God. The only solution is humbling yourself before Him. Humble yourself and you will find the favor procured by His Son—eternal salvation in Him. Amen.