Humility

Where are the humble servants? The trait of humility has vanished from our leaders today. It used to be that most of our leaders were marked by humility, and that was not that long ago. Now, it is hard to find this trait in any leader.

Not too long ago I did a word study on humility and found some very interesting things.

First, I believe it is God's mark on His people. In Psalm 9:12 it states,

"He does not forget the cry of the humble."

In Psalm 10:12, again,

"Arise, O' Lord! O God, lift up Your hand! Do not forget the humble."

And, it is clear in Psalm 25:9,

"The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way."

And again in Psalm 34:1-2,

"I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make it boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad."

And more in Psalm 147:6,

"The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground."

It seems to me that this trait, humility, is the response of the human heart to a Holy God who now dwells in that heart.

Isaiah 57:15 states,

"For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite heart and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."

The second point I stumbled upon is this: humility seems to be something that we can seek as Christians. I am not saying that God is not sovereign because this point has nothing to do with that part of who He is. What I am saying is that man, as a being, is not a robot and thus he is responsible for actions which still fall under the sovereignty of God, but humility seems to be the action that God is first looking for in man. I see this is Zephaniah,

Zephaniah 2:3

"Seek the Lord all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you are hidden in the day of the Lord's anger."

Zephaniah 3:12

"I will leave in your midst a meek and humble people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord."

The third and final point I will make is this: we often find humility stated in an imperative manner with an implied nominative pronoun, "you" to begin. To me this impresses upon me that humility is something I am commanded to do, but there is more. The command is often stated in a verb tense format that suggests that it is an action that should have begun in the past and should continue into the present in a continuous way. For example,

James 4:10

"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."

I Peter 5:6

"Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."

Humility, where has it gone? I sense that in the Christian culture it is slipping away a bit as well, and I put myself in that category. I am no theologian, and I am sure I have some flawed theological thoughts that will cause someone somewhere to have heartburn, but God was moving in my heart tonight. As I read His words, I was reminded of these thoughts from many years ago. Tonight, I am again reminded that humility is my calling as a follower of Jesus Christ after all did not my Savior humble Himself for me??

Philippians 2:8

"After being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."