Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:10
In this passage, James gave the instruction not only to go to God but to be intentional in the way you go to Him. It is not the natural inclination of our hearts to come to God with humility, even though He is the Creator and we are His creation. We often come with our own agendas and ideas of what we think He should do before considering our place before Him. To humble ourselves is more than just holding our requests with open hands but approaching God with the acknowledgment that He has authority over our lives.
James made clear that when we approach God in this way, He will exalt us. This doesn’t mean we will have our every earthly desire or that every difficulty of our lives will disappear. But it does mean that we will have what we most need—intimate fellowship with God. There are many earthly ideas of exaltation and achievement, but none is greater than fellowship with God through His Son, Jesus. When we understand the gospel rightly, we respond in humility, and we experience the exaltation of communion with God.
- What does it look like to humble yourself before God? What is hard about that?
- Who has exemplified humility before God for you? How did that produce fruit in their lives?
- Pray and humble yourself before God. Be still and acknowledge His place over your life as Creator and Redeemer.
