Devotional: Humble Myself

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. (James 2:10)

Humble myself?

What in the world does that mean?

I find myself being humbled all the time—good intentions gone awry, a snarky comment I regret the moment it leaves my lips, my children spilling some juicy piece of our life story to total strangers. There seems no end to the situations God provides for me to learn humility. Why do I need to go to the trouble of doing it for myself?

But that verse tugged me by the heart a few years ago and whispered for me to pay attention, there was something deeper to be learned.

It’s one thing to accept those little (or not so little) humbling moments as they come, something else entirely to maintain an attitude of humility before the Lord. Easy, too, to speak of maintaining that attitude, then refusing to consciously take the path of humility when more subtle opportunities present themselves for it ...

... like, when I’m taken to task for something I don’t necessarily think was my fault. Humble myself.

Or when a stray comment by a friend hits a tender area inside me, and I’m struggling to not be offended. Humble myself.

When someone else reaps a blessing that I’ve prayed, waited, and/or worked for ... humble myself.

When I come across a lesson I’m sure I’ve learned a hundred times before ... humble myself.

It all boils down to choice. Choosing to overlook an offense. Choosing to consider that I just might have something God wants to correct in me, even if I don’t see it, because He’s the only righteous Judge. Choosing to ... humble myself.

Only God knows the whole picture of why blessings are bestowed here, and seemingly withheld there. (He IS God, after all!) And only He knows the ultimate purpose of whatever lesson or process or experience is laid in my path.

He is God, and I am not.

But in that is reassurance. Who better to leave the management of the universe to—or of my own small life? And if I choose to humble myself, whatever that may look like, then He promises when the time is right, He will lift me up.

That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting

That there is none besides Me.

I am the LORD, and there is no other.. (Isaiah 45:6)

Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel:

I am the Lord your God

And there is no other.

My people shall never be put to shame. (Joel 2:27)

But You, O Lord, are a shield for me,

My glory and the One who lifts up my head. (Psalm 3:3, all NKJV)

This post first appeared March 17, 2013.