Walking with the Wise #229: The Necessity of Humility

"The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom,
and humility comes before honor."
—Proverbs 15:33

If a person comes face to face with the knowledge of God and does not respond in fear, then they haven’t yet truly encountered the true knowledge of God. Once someone truly sees who God is in all of His beauty, majesty, terror, wrath, love, justice, perfections, knowledge, wisdom, power, and absolute sovereignty, there is no other response than true fear. Realizing who He truly is brings a sense of dread upon every man, woman and child. He is altogether different than us, and realizing that He has made us causes the dread to strengthen further, because there is a sense that we were made for something and that purpose is greater than ourselves. For with that knowledge comes a responsibility—awareness that we are moral agents responsible for living for God and loving others.

Such thoughts usually cause one of two responses—fear coupled with humility, whereby we acknowledge our shortcomings and rely upon the mercy of God. Or, fear coupled with dread and pride, whereby we reject the knowledge of God, choosing to ignore it because we do not want the responsibility. The first is the initial step of experiencing life in God—the second is the first step of death and destruction. We can no more ignore God than we can ignore the sound of a speeding locomotive hurling toward us, while we are standing on a train track.

Once we learn who God truly is, our response should be one of humility. We have a sinful tendency to exalt ourselves, to try and be our own god, just as our first parents did (cf. Genesis 3:5-6). Cultivating such attitudes always ends disastrously (cf. Genesis 3:14-24), so rather than exalt ourselves, we must adopt a position of humility, as the Bible continually admonishes us:  

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you”—James 4:10.

And again,

“Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you”—1 Peter 5:5-7.

May the LORD our God enable us to respond to Him in humility, falling at His feet in humble adoration, thanking Him for the salvation that is ours, available through the humble Son of God, who loved us so much He was willing to humble Himself so that we might have forgiveness and life in Him who is blessed forevermore. Amen.