Humility THINKS right about oneself, and God and TRUSTS what God says in His Word!
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” -(1 Peter 5:6-7).
Humbling ourselves under God’s mighty hand which speaks of His power and presence is to submit to Him, which is the first step in casting our cares, anxieties upon Him because He cares for us! To “humble” ourselves means to “take a lower rank or place,” To THINK right about oneself, to have a low but rightful estimation of one self. It is a command and with it a sense of urgency, do this now, don’t delay! The intersting truth is it is in the “passive” voice which means allow this to be done to you. Allow God to lower your estimation of yourself. This we see as the Spirit of God through the Word of God shows us ourselves apart from Christ initilially, and like Isaiah we cry out “woe is me” We see ourselves as we truly are, sinners, apart from God, relaizing His Holiness and our sinfulness and our great need for Him!
But also for the follower of Christ, we see continuously our need of Him, as He sanctifes, conforms us to the image of Christ, through His Word-{Read John 17:17; Romans 12:2} by His Spirit and also in our Trials we see how much we are dependent upon Him. Our great need is to increasingly know Him and for Him to bring about change in our character that honours and reflects His attitudes and actions. This is a process which He begins and finishes as Philippians 1:6 states. So we can rest in the fact, God does not starte a work and throw us away, but He is working “IN”us and that for our good, though it does not always feel good but that is His promise! He DOES NOT GIVE UP ON YOU!-{Read Rom 8:28-Philippians 2:13}
He is not out to destroy us but to develop us and deepen our dependence upon Him. Paul and his companions knew this as he writes in 2 Corinthians 1:9, “… These things happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead!” The New Living standard Bible puts it this way, “In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.”
God prunes His people to be more fruitful. Christlike! -{Read John 15}. And He also uses circumstances, trials, troubles, difficulties, suffering, to help us, humbling us to wean us off self reliance to God dependency! You may have heard it said, “God will never put on you more than you can bear” but this verse in 2 Corinthians 1:9 says otherwise. Usually that staement is a mis-reprenstaion of 1 Cor 10:13 where Paul is speaking of God not putting you in a situation- a temptation- where your only way out is to sin against Him. God uses His Spirot, His Word, Trials to help us have a true estimation of ourelves and devloping a clerare and a higher estimation and incresaing dependency upon Him!
Humility It is the opposite of pride.
Pride rebels and refuses to submit to God and what He says. Pride refuses to give their anxieties to God, but holds onto them, clutches them for pride puts more trust in self than God, as evident by carrying their anxieties, worries and refusing to give them up and over to God. For the proud heart falsely believes that they are sufficient, and wiser than God as proven when they, we, I, refuse to trust God and entrust all our anxieties, one by one to Him! Which of us have not been guilty of that! We lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting Him with all of our heart.-(Read Prov 3:5-6). And the “ fruit” is ,-fearful, -(Luke 12:4-7); anxious, -(Luke 12:22-31);-despair, -(Prov 12:25); double-minded, unstable in all of our ways -(James 1:6-8). The “root” of the problem is often our failure to entrust ourself and cares to God believing God cares for us, can be trusted and that what He promises, such as in 1 Peter 5:7 He does!. It is really an attack on God’s character that He is not good, does not have our best interests at heart, and that He cannot be trusted . We do not say that but our ACTIONS SHOW WE BELIEVE THAT LIE!
And a word of warning to us all in the first part of this verse below but also a promise of comfort at the second part. Note God’s attitude and actions towards the proud and humble!-, “… God is opposed to the proud.”…”… but GIVES Grace to the Humble!”- {James 4:6
Humility thinks right about God and trusts what God says in His Word!
Humility submits and entrusts all cares to Him believing He not only has the power but also the loving heart for us and that He
keeps His promises! So, they and we can exchange anxious cares for His peace-(Read Matthew 11:28-30; Philippians 4:6)
One anxiety is too much to carry. This is why that little word “ALL” of our cares to be cast upon Him is so important. There is no anxiety, worry so small, insignificant, or too big, that God does not want you to cast, throw on to Him! Admit to Him that you need Him, and give the thing that is stressing you to Him, to take control of it and impart His peace which He promises to those who do-{Read Philippians 4:6-7}
Proverbs 12:15 says, “Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.” Worry unchecked leads to depression but a good, an encouraging word makes the heart glad.
Humility- Obeying the command immediately when the thought of anxiety seeks to control and tear you apart emotionally and ,iinimize God’s care for you wih thoughts of doubts must be met with hu dosn’t!mbling ourselves unfer the might protective, powerful Hand of God who is present and willing and able to meet us in this oment of temptation. And this He does so that we know Him better, trust Him more and rest in His promise “He cares for you!”
You cant stop anxious thoughts coming to mind but you can by His Spirit enableing you CHOOSE what you will think on according to Philippians 4:8 “Whatever is True… Think continualy on it. His Word is TRUE-{John 17:17; Jesus is “the TRUTH”-{John 14:6} and we are to THINK ON TRUTH-{Philippians 4:8} and PRACTICE it- v 9! Guarding our mind is imperative. And we do this through reading, hearing, meditating, applying His Word, which is TRUTH!
Humility believes God cares, holding on to Anxiety does not believe He cares!
The verses below is a good word to build up and gladden the heart. To read, re-read, meditate upon, word for word, commit to memory, pray and live out! And then pass on to other dear souls!
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” -(1 Peter 5:6-7)
Humility THINKS right about God and TRUSTS what God says in His Word!
God Bless,
Aidan