Wednesday April 29, 2020

Your Daily Dose of Inspiration:

James 4:6-10 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (7) Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (8) Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (9) Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. (10) Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Notice that James quotes the phrase that “God…gives more grace to the humble” and then immediately follows it with “Submit yourselves therefore…” That word therefore means that to understand this sentence, you need to look back at what was previously stated. Humility is never more clearly shown, than when we submit to God. We may say that Christ is our Lord, we may sing praises to His name, we might declare that we are totally surrendered to Him, but our pride is exposed when we refuse to obey His words. It is only the humble who submit themselves to the Lord, the proud pursue their own plans and interests.

But submission to God can go even deeper than the obedience of His commands. We also show humility when we submit to how He identifies us. Our society is so caught up in identity right now. Everyone is trying to figure out how they want to be identified, but no one is asking God how He identifies them. Yet, it seems to me that if God is who He says He is, then He is the only one who can accurately identify us. The problem is you may not like what He says.

Matthew 15:22-28 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” (23) But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” (24) He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (25) But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” (26) And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” (27) She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” (28) Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

This is a difficult passage. We don’t usually think of Christ insulting anyone, especially someone asking for His help. Yet, Jesus was doing something very deep. He was giving the woman a test of faith. James tells us that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness, and if we allow that steadfastness to do its work, then it will produce perfection. Jesus gave this woman the unflattering identity of a dog. Now, most of us would have gone off right then and there. We would have given Jesus a piece of our mind maybe. But this woman recognized Jesus for who He is, and rather than being offended, she humbly accepted what He said. The Lord identified her as a dog, and so she accepted the position she was given. From that position she made her plea, and the Lord, seeing her great faith and humility, gave to her what she desired. Furthermore, He praised her and declared her faith great; not even His disciples had been praised in that way. She began in humility and was subsequently exalted by the Lord.

-Jared Freeman, “Humility & Exaltation”