Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
Humble yourselves under God's mighty authority, power and control, trusting Him to lift you up in His own appointed time. This humbling is each person's own voluntary, daily work, not something to wait for God to do, for if a person will not humble himself God will bring him low, and only the humble can be accepted and honored. True humility is entire surrender and dependence on God, giving up self-trust, self-sufficiency, pride, self-righteousness and claims of merit, with a teachable, childlike spirit that confesses and forsakes sin and accepts instruction and correction. Exaltation comes only from God in due time, for self-uplifting brings abasement and opens the soul to temptation, while God lifts up those who bow low and wait patiently under trial and suffering, even to a place beside Christ and the unfading crown of glory. It stands with being clothed with humility and subject one to another, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, joined to casting all care upon Him because He cares, and to staying sober and watchful against the adversary until the God of all grace makes perfect and established after suffering awhile.
Command to Humble Oneself
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God means to place oneself low under His mighty authority and power and to trust Him to raise up at the right, appointed time. It is shown in a lowly spirit, unpretentious testimony, and a life that does not seek attention. The exaltation is His work in His timing, not self-lifting.
Humbling is a person's own voluntary work, to be done daily, and not to be waited for as something God will do for him. It is far better to keep the heart daily humbled before God than to require His hand to bear heavily to humble and bring into a proper position. Each one can either abase himself or build himself up in pride until God abases him, and for ministers this means daily self-humbling, pressing close to Christ, and accepting denial of self, care, responsibility and suffering for truth instead of shunning what is unpleasant, so that power attends the work. To ask God to humble through severe acts of judgment while refusing to humble oneself leads astray to ruin, with the Spirit withdrawn and strength failing until overthrown. Those resisting God's work must humble themselves, take hold of His help, and prepare to work unitedly and earnestly. Recognizing lack of sanctified wisdom leads to seeking the Lord wholeheartedly, giving up pride, and accepting the humble path He marks out rather than waiting for repeated chastening.
If a person will not humble himself, God will humble him, for His providential discipline brings the proud low. Those in positions of trust must give up domineering commands and controlling authority, learn Christ's meekness and loveliness, accept His yoke and help bear His burdens, or the Lord will humble them under His mighty hand. Humbling means searching the heart and letting God remove prejudice, pride and self-sufficiency, breaking the heart upon Christ the Rock, and acknowledging and confessing sins, seeking forgiveness from those wronged, and opening the heart to Christ. God can accept, bless and honor only those who humble themselves under His hand and give Him the glory instead of taking praise for success and ability, submitting to His control. Those in responsible positions as messengers, stewards and ambassadors must voluntarily humble themselves or be humbled, rejecting meeting the world's plans, catering to its ideas, smooth words, deceitful prophesying, men-pleasing and accusing those God is using, and instead lifting the standard high in the dignity and sacredness of the calling as watched by heavenly intelligences and a cloud of witnesses. Those called to sacred service who walk modestly and humbly before Him are accepted; otherwise He will humble them.
God's mighty hand is His mighty authority, power, supervision, care and timing, and to humble under it is to submit to His control, His ways and His counsel. His goodness and mighty authority give reason to humble before Him. In church leadership this means serving without acting superior or domineering and being subject one to another, and in the Nashville publishing work keeping a constant sense of His supervision, with His converting power needed for such humility and for success. It includes accepting mistreatment without self-exaltation by looking to Jesus who is meek and lowly, and entrusting every care to God because He cares.
Humility is entire surrender to God and dependence on Him, giving up self-sufficiency, self-trust, one's own wisdom, weak judgment, ability and merits, and relying wholly on Jesus. Success lies not in what a person does but in that surrender so He can work the life, and only meek and lowly hearts can be blessed and made usable. When God's message comes, submitting to His power by falling on Christ the Rock to be broken in pride opens the way to life, hope, strength and rebuilding on His plan at once, while holding to self-sufficiency wastes time and precious opportunities. Trusting self instead of depending on God turns judgment aside and gives Satan advantage, whereas God used the man when he was little in his own eyes. Humility and meekness make work acceptable to God by leading to depend on Christ rather than exalt self.
Humility is a teachable, childlike spirit that accepts God's instruction, reproof and correction, brings will and conduct under His control, dies to self, and keeps learning in Christ's school because one's ways are not His ways. It means becoming learners rather than judging new light before prayerfully searching Scripture, exalting Jesus and lying low while being subject one to another. It gives up pride, self-importance, conceit and independent judgment, becomes willing to be corrected and to respect and love others, and lets hereditary tendencies and wrong habits be disciplined and often put to death. God tests whether a person will do this, for spiritual life requires being shaped by the divine model. Coming like a little child, turning from self-will and letting self be broken and die, means stopping a course of error, retracing steps and returning to prayer before leading others farther from truth.
Humility lays aside pride, self-esteem, false dignity, self-righteousness and claims of merit, and means contrition, confessing and forsaking sin and putting it away now. It keeps nothing back from God and confesses faults to brethren while the atoning Sacrifice pleads, confronting sin now rather than relying on one's own works or righteousness. Such confession does not detract from dignity and influence but, through being broken on the Rock, brings true heavenly dignity from Christ. The humble and broken heart meets the condition for favor, appreciates God's love and the cross, receives ample blessing and health of soul, helps save others, and will be lifted up at the proper time. In the time of atonement it means deep contrition of soul and earnest searching of heart, with God appearing to comfort and bless those who truly seek Him. It surrenders pride, removes hatred, restores loving fellowship, clears obstacles to prayer and worship, and prepares for forgiveness and acceptance, while daily repentance, conversion and surrender change character and overcome selfishness.
Humility renounces laboring for the highest place and the honor of men, and instead is clothed with humility and subject one to another, the younger submitting to the elder. It takes up every duty however lowly, cooperates with Christ in salvation, does God's work faithfully instead of haphazardly, accepts whatever work and place God assigns, hides self in Christ, and casts all care upon God because He cares. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, and in due time He Himself will exalt them, sending showers of blessing and changing murmuring at hardship into thanksgiving and praise. Cherishing self-love and seeking exaltation opens the soul to temptation and weakens reason and judgment, while seeking to exalt self brings abasement and mistakes. It examines the spirit, lives as God can own and bless, appears in meekness, lowliness, self-denial and unreserved giving to Christ without pressing forward or esteeming self superior, allowing God to work through and honor others.
Humility means humbling oneself instead of trying to humble others by criticizing them and exposing their defects, which is Satan's special temptation to hinder the work. Success comes from surrender rather than from what one does, and God Himself lifts in due time the one who takes the low place. Following Christ's path of self-denial, self-sacrifice and self-surrender helps the doer and brethren and sisters also, clearing the cloud of misunderstanding and removing what hinders pure, loving fellowship. By surrendering pride and confessing one's own sins it removes hatred, restores loving fellowship, and clears obstacles to prayer and worship.
Humility comes from self-examination that sees personal weakness, sharp traits needing repressing, jealousy, suspicion, distrust and set will, leaving so much work to be done for oneself that the heart humbles itself. Drawing nearer to God makes defects appear more clearly and calls for humbling rather than self-lifting; if lifted up, the Lord does it. That humbling hangs the helpless soul upon Christ to supplement ignorance with His wisdom, weakness with His strength and frailty with His enduring might, remaining connected with God as lights in the world and preparing for the inheritance of the saints. Affliction under His hand should lead to faithful self-examination not for self-satisfaction but for renewed knowledge and true holiness, putting away defects and emerging purified reflecting Christ's image.
Promise of Timely Exaltation
Exaltation comes only from God in due time, and is to be left to Him in trust rather than seized by self-love or striving for place. Self-uplifting produces a character God cannot approve, and all work done in self-uplifting and in weak human ability alone forms what He will not approve. Seeking to exalt self opens the soul to temptation and weakens reason and judgment, while renouncing self-uplifting and working in Christ's lines with divine cooperation brings God's lifting at the right time. If lifting comes it is the Lord who raises, not one's own self-exaltation, and this is learned as drawing nearer to God reveals personal weakness and defects.
God lifts up those who bow low and wait patiently under trials and persecution, with exaltation following suffering in His time and not through pride or self-assertion. Humility belongs with mutual submission, faithful service, self-denial, continual effort, and reliance on God through suffering and conflict with the devil rather than on self. The promise points beyond present suffering to future exaltation, encouraging believers to remain humble and hopeful rather than discouraged, and to trust and wait patiently especially after the cause of God has suffered, knowing He will protect them as frontguard and rearward. The appointed lifting includes the final reward given at the appointed time.
Joseph illustrates the promise, for like him the faithful may be brought low by false accusations, humiliation, slander, and wicked revenge, yet Providence can turn enemies' schemes to good. His temptations, adversity, and hardship prepared him for an exalted position, and his honor came after humiliation. God overrules the enemy's devices for good and raises higher in His own time those who trust Him and remain faithful through being brought low.
The greatest elevation is becoming like Christ, with self emptied of evil and the heart opened to Jesus through humble submission to God. When Jesus Christ does the lifting it is pure, clean, and holy, laying aside self, ambition, self-exaltation, and working in self, and walking humbly with God with the eye single to His glory. Those so lifted walk as Christ walked, with speech after the divine likeness revealing His gentleness, purity of speech, and moral elevation beyond price, bringing a different atmosphere into home life and daily practice, while Christ Himself works in them to raise the converted worker to a high plane of action and a higher tone in all service without crippling energy. This humbling gives correct knowledge of self, knowledge of the limit of power and extent of ability, dying to self and living to Christ, seeking God with all the heart to be converted and born again, talking less and being still before God, setting words and actions in order under divine influence beginning with changing an unsavory influence in the home, giving a new character with Christ within as the hope of glory and making a happy man who honors God in home, church, and world.
The exaltation God gives is recorded in heaven as a place beside Christ in the heavenly courts and the crown of immortal glory, received through doing God's work faithfully instead of haphazardly and trusting Him rather than seeking self-exaltation which leads to mistakes. It is the unfading crown of glory shared in the glory to be revealed and given when the Chief Shepherd appears, requiring being subject one to another and clothed with humility, with younger workers subject to the elder and those of long experience and seeking counsel, and with the church ruled not by official authority but by personal Christlike influence under the great Chief Shepherd's view. It is also the inheritance of the saints, granted to the lowly and contrite who lay human pride in the dust, with wisdom given to the humble that is withheld from the self-sufficient worldly-wise. It comes as Christ's call, Friend, come up higher, to one who consents to live in the valley of humiliation through lowly faithful service, holding one talent as God's sacred gift, faithfully performing minor duties, moving ever upward toward a richer holier life in Christ's service, encouraging others by example, not disparaging another's gift, growing from faithfulness in least to faithfulness in much and from weak to strong, laying hold firmly on truth through connection with God, living Christ's meekness and lowliness daily, learning of God and taught of God, and loving God supremely and neighbor as self.
The humble receive grace, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, and in due time He Himself will exalt them according to promise, sending showers of blessing on the church and changing murmuring at hardship into songs of thanksgiving and praise. Those who fail through self-sufficiency should humble themselves under God's hand and bow low before Him, accepting the lessons of defeat rather than blaming circumstances or feeling talent unappreciated, and then God will teach them through experience instead of leaving them to discomfiture, defeat, and backsliding under trial. This requires everyone working for souls to work stripped of self, with no scolding or fretting, no arbitrary authority, no pointing of the finger and vain speaking, and no overweening confidence in self, but with heart warmed with love for Jesus and for precious souls, since self-sufficiency reveals weakness and Christ's absence. God delights to give strength and courage to the humble and to honor and lift them up, as those who recognize human weakness and frailty and lean on Him who is mighty to save, standing firmly for truth while relying on God rather than self, and He accepts them through Christ's perfection with imputed righteousness.
Safety and greatness lie in seeing oneself as little and trusting God, because God alone has power to make great and will be with those who humble themselves to help their work and fellow workers, exalting in due time all who humble themselves. Human standing or past occupation does not determine worth before God, for those who seem great may be lightly esteemed because of their hearts while God may regard as great those whom others disparage. Humbling means turning thoughts to God and changing life and character, accepting Christ's yoke, learning His meekness and lowliness, and keeping the natural desire to be first in check, and as they return to Him God will raise them up above those who strive to exalt themselves, so that the lowliest disciple stands higher in His kingdom than one whose self-exaltation has misled unbelievers.
Setting in Peter's Counsel
The command belongs with being clothed with humility and being subject one to another, the younger submitting to the elder, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. To humble oneself under the mighty hand of God is to place oneself under His mighty authority with trust that He will lift up at the right and proper time. This humility rules out pride and coercive leadership, severity, criticism and domineering authority, requiring leaders to serve as examples rather than as superiors and lords. It means the church is to be ruled not by official authority but by personal Christlike influence, with younger workers subject to those of long experience, highly respecting them and seeking counsel, while those devising the work direct enthusiasm into right channels with kind advice instead of binding the work or discouraging willing workers.
It is joined to casting all care upon Him because He cares, entrusting every care to God in prayer and faith instead of worry, fretting and scolding. It is joined to staying sober and watchful against the adversary the devil who walks as a roaring lion seeking to devour, resisting him firm in faith while sharing the same afflictions with brethren in the world. In trials and conflict with the devil dependence is to be on God rather than on self. Until then the God of all grace who calls to eternal glory by Christ Jesus makes perfect, established, strengthened and settled after suffering awhile. Humbling also means taking up every duty however lowly and cooperating with Christ in the work of salvation, leaving exaltation to God instead of laboring for the highest place and the honor of men, with promise of showers of blessing changing murmuring at hardship into thanksgiving and praise.
It is part of the exhortation faithful ministers and elders must heed in order to share in the glory to be revealed and receive an unfading crown of glory when the Chief Shepherd appears. Elders are to feed God's flock willingly and without greed or money-seeking, as examples rather than ruling as lords over God's heritage, with presidents of conferences and all workers doing their work under the view and directions of the great Chief Shepherd. It belongs to ministers who have experienced genuine conversion and are in living connection with Christ, acting as channels of light to the world and leading the flock. It belongs to the word to be presented by those laboring together with God to wrench men and women from Satan's grasp so he loses power over them, in connection with partaking of the divine nature through Christ's gift of His precious life to overcome worldly lust, with ministers working earnestly for salvation and seeking heaven on its given terms.
It was given as encouragement under severe trials and coming persecution to remain humble and hopeful rather than discouraged by present suffering, pointing beyond suffering to future exaltation. It applies to those who afflict their souls before God and live with solemn watchfulness in the last days, with sobriety. It belongs to the real work of cleansing and reform and solid spiritual work needed to stand in the great day of the Lord, with contrition and searching of heart in the time of atonement. It was a warning to the churches in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God so He may exalt them in due time when those gone out seek to carry on apostasy, create divisions and seduce souls to ruin. Holding oneself in consecration, devotion and humility draws near to God by prayer, contemplation and reading His Word, and when He draws near He lifts up a standard against the enemy that the enemy cannot pass so the enemy cannot take control of the mind, guards against being overcome, and in due time exalts and counts worthy to walk with Christ in white.
Humility in Church Leadership
In leadership, humbling oneself under God's mighty hand rules out pride, coercion, severity, criticism and domineering authority, for the church is to be ruled not by official authority but by personal, Christlike influence. Leaders are to serve as examples to the flock rather than as lords over God's heritage, doing their work under the view and direction of the great Chief Shepherd in expectation of the unfading crown of glory when He appears. This humility belongs with being clothed with humility and all being subject one to another, since God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, and with entrusting every care to God because He cares.
Those called to bear God's message to the world must exalt the message and not self, walking humbly with God day by day and taking up the work appointed to them. They work under the guidance of the Great Shepherd as faithful caretakers worthy of responsibility, and God will lift them up at the right time. Humility forbids putting a man where God should be, teaching fellow men to look to a man for wisdom, putting trust in man, taking the place of God, or making flesh an arm. No man's mind and judgment is to be a controlling power, for even a president is human, fallible and often in need of counsel from brethren, so workers are to make the Lord their trust, look to Him for guidance, follow His counsel when received, stand under Christ as Captain of salvation, and be left free to act upon their own judgment under God's moving influence without man's hand laid upon them to hinder them.
Younger workers are to be subject to the elder and to those of long experience in the work of the third angel's message, highly respecting and esteeming them and seeking them for counsel. Elders are to feed God's flock willingly and without greed as examples rather than ruling as lords, and those devising the work are not to bind about the work or discourage those who want to work but to direct their enthusiasm into right channels with kind, interested advice. Workers for souls are to work stripped of self, with no scolding, fretting, arbitrary authority, pointing of the finger, vain speaking, or overweening confidence in self, but with hearts warmed with love for Jesus and for souls, in loving harmony rather than criticism, faultfinding and animosity, working in Christ's way with divine cooperation. Success comes not from what people can do but from entire surrender to God, and each is to humble himself instead of trying to humble others by criticizing them and exposing their defects, for only meek and lowly hearts can be blessed and made usable, and God Himself will lift up in due time those who take that low place.
A desire for control, a critical spirit, self-sufficiency, an overbearing and self-exalting spirit, seeking to be first and making oneself supreme, carrying things in one's own way and arrogating power and authority must be subdued, laid aside and overcome by daily conversion under God's hand. Without this humbling a person becomes a snare to himself, without peace and upbuilding in the soul, an unsafe adviser who always sees a course opposite to brethren, pulls on the wrong side instead of working in harmony, manufactures many burdens for others, mars God's work, stirs strife and bitterness that spreads to other minds, loses brethren's confidence, and if not seen and overcome will be left to follow his own way, ruled by hereditary and cultivated tendencies instead of the Holy Spirit, and be found wanting. The same call keeps a constant sense of God's supervision and mutual subjection in the Nashville publishing work, calls workers in the health food business to watch and pray, put spiritual service ahead of financial gain and seize opportunities to bring the truth, and calls every sanitarium worker and nurse to consecration, meekness and lowliness without worldly display, since seeking self-exaltation abases while hiding self in Christ brings God's exaltation in due time as channels of light. Church school teachers in this humility refuse dependence on poor self, depend on strength from God, openly honor Him as wholly on the Lord's side, and find oneness with Christ and with those taught, with a Helper beside them and the affection of children, while ministers and medical missionaries are to walk humbly, use gifts to bless others, and serve together under Christ without competing or attaching to human leaders.
Humility in Daily Discipleship
Humbling under the mighty hand is one's own daily work, not something to wait for God to do, for each person can either abase himself or build himself up in pride until God abases him. It is far better to keep the heart daily humbled before God than to require His hand to bear heavily to humble and bring into proper position, and the proud heart must be humbled before God every day or He will humble it. That daily humbling means examining one's own heart and abandoning superiority over fellow workers. It includes disciplining self and bringing words, manners, and habits into line with Christ's will, whereupon God removes disagreeable traits and gives supreme love for Him and pure, unselfish love for others. For ministers of the gospel it means pressing close to Christ and accepting denial of self, care, responsibility, and suffering for the truth instead of shunning what is unpleasant, so that power attends the work, and success attends effort in proportion to consecration, self-denial, and self-sacrifice. Following Christ's path of self-denial, self-sacrifice, and self-surrender in this humbling helps the one who does it and helps brethren and sisters also, clearing away the cloud of misunderstanding and removing everything that hinders pure, loving fellowship.
Humility includes accepting mistreatment without self-exaltation and looking to Jesus, who is meek and lowly, to learn this humility and find rest. It means submitting to God and to one another rather than responding with pride when feeling wronged, abused, or misjudged, trusting God who gives grace to the humble and will exalt them in due time. When wronged and deceived, or misjudged, or when others point out faults, humbling under God's hand means not complaining but accepting correction and recognizing one's own wrongs.
Humbling under God's authority means obeying Him and following Jesus, putting truth into practice, and faithfully using each opportunity and the light received, and God lifts up those who submit. It means giving up self-sufficiency and recognizing need of God's wisdom and power, for humility and meekness are needed for work to be acceptable, leading to dependence on Christ rather than self-exaltation. It means committing work to God and doing it faithfully, sincerely, truthfully, and rightly rather than trying to raise self, and God will lift up those who do so, with work bringing its reward as His light, grace, and salvation are revealed.
Humbling means drawing near to God so He will draw near, looking to Jesus, taking hold of His strength by living faith, and making peace with God, instead of complaining over unsuccessful labor and desiring the praise of men. It includes casting the helpless soul upon Jesus Christ, from whom light and help can come, and cultivating humility and entrusting the helpless life to Christ rather than seeking people's applause or living for their opinion. It means accepting His correction, for He reveals errors and what must be done to please Jesus, and He will bind up. Those who serve, especially those with responsibilities, are not to rely on own strength or plans or be led by inherited or cultivated tendencies, but to be taught and led by the Holy Spirit with the wisdom God gives.
Such humility prepares the heart to receive the Holy Spirit by laying aside self-esteem and desire for supremacy, putting away defects of character, and coming to God as little children. When people humble themselves with confessing and forsaking sin, they make room for the Holy Spirit, and truth can be received to sanctify the heart. It means coming now with confession and genuine repentance, cleansing from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and making thorough, complete work without stopping short, whereupon God abundantly pardons, which is for present and eternal good as the end of earth's history approaches so the sinner may stand with the righteous and endure God's purity and glory.
It requires repenting, being converted, and surrendering to God every day, which allows Him to change the character and overcome selfishness. It means stopping resistance to warnings, breaking the spell of deception by repentance and conversion so sins may be blotted out, no longer uniting with evil agencies to hurt God's children and wound Christ in His saints, nor turning time and talents aside to a work God did not assign. It means giving up erring judgment that estranges from God and leads into serious errors, and submitting to God's counsel after much lost time so a good work may still be accomplished. It calls for putting self under the mighty hand to go forward to do good, forsaking sin and clearing the King's highway instead of walking so guilt rests on one's own head, and clinging to God to receive the mighty movings of His Spirit. It means seeking God's favor and putting sin away rather than trusting own judgment or condemning others, and admitting and correcting wrongs thoroughly rather than leaving them unresolved, clearing away what obstructs God's work, for refusal weakens moral power and separates the soul from God.
This humbling is urgent in the short time before the final close of mercy, when the world's wickedness is like Noah's day and people may fail to hear the last call, so they must wake up and get ready before it is too late. Relief, hope, and success in carrying God's message for this time come through humbling under His mighty hand rather than self-exaltation or human devising, for His people have departed from His way and He will vindicate His messages and dealings. Afflictions should lead the church to humble itself and follow Christ's example by doing good, and for students this means turning from amusements such as ball playing to missionary work, opening Scripture to neighbors and sharing its light.
It means standing firmly on eternal truth and letting God shape the work and impress hearts, rather than imposing human judgment or methods. It is a blessing to be thankful for and to want in one's own life, that He may exalt in due time. It calls for acknowledging wrongdoing and accepting God's correction rather than boasting in gifts, position, or achievements, for God can give strength to the weak and enable finishing the course with joy. Refusal to humble under God's mighty hand leaves unwillingness to accept His power over nature or learn from suffering, as with Israel in drought seeking another cause, while those who have done wrong must face the full extent of wrongs and humble before God rather than rely on misplaced sympathy or partial change, letting God build up.
It follows Christ's example, for even the Majesty of heaven humbled Himself, so people should let God exalt them and let Jesus shape minds, dispositions, and characters. It means learning Christ's meekness and loveliness, accepting His yoke, and helping bear His burdens, giving up domineering commands and controlling authority, especially by those in trust, or the Lord will humble them. It appears in not pressing forward or regarding self as superior, but in meekness, lowliness, self-denial, and giving self without reservation to Christ, which allows God to work through and honor others. Learning His meekness and lowliness rather than exalting self is needed to receive God's help and be transformed by the Holy Spirit, to resist a temperamental snare and remain in God's love. Where hearts have hardened, humility is expressed through humiliation, repentance, and true conversion in learning His meekness and lowliness.
Closeness to Christ leads to humbling under the mighty hand, where self-confidence, self-sufficiency, and self-important words give way to prayer, faith, kindness, truth, and tenderness, joined to loving one another as Christ loved, and living the truth ends unkind criticism. It means giving up self-esteem, self-credit, claims of merit, ambition, resentment, and pursuit of earthly honor, and God will lift up. Paul's experience illustrates it: when God's law revealed sin, he confessed guilt, repented, trusted Christ, and became gentle and lowly, giving glory to God. Such a humble life bears the Spirit's good fruit and serves others rather than seeking honor or pulling others down.
It overcomes the struggle for supremacy and the masterful, self-directed spirit by submitting to God rather than seeking one's own way, for humility and obedience are essential lessons for any who would lead, and the masterful spirit must be recognized and controlled. Submitting natural character to Jesus allows God-given abilities to become strength and power for good instead of being turned to selfish ends. It means giving up self-importance and conceit, becoming willing to be corrected and to respect and love others rather than relying on limited ability, for God raises the humble in His time, while selfish ambition leads to humiliation and willingness to suffer for Christ with striving for spiritual growth is ambition God honors. Humility marks excellence of spirit, for God resists the proud and self-sufficient and gives grace to the humble, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. When the Holy Spirit enlightens, people recognize self-denial and genuine humility as first requirements for successful service, and seeing themselves as the Lord sees them brings sorrow and humiliation, including where disagreements show lack of overcoming, calling all to humble beneath the mighty hand for exaltation at the right time.
Without this humbling, proud, self-righteous, vain and selfish hearts offer prayers that are not accepted because they come from pride and selfishness, and pride threatens ruin. If there is no reformation, affliction will come and joy will turn to heaviness until hearts are humbled, and affliction under God's hand should lead to faithful self-examination unto renewed knowledge and true holiness, putting away defects and emerging purified reflecting Christ's image. Humbling opens the way to redeem the time, lead exemplary lives, and bless self and others instead of being a stumbling-block scattering from Christ, lest the unhumbled remain what God cannot accept and become stubble for fire in the day of God. Rich spiritual experience comes through seeking God wholeheartedly and humbling beneath His mighty hand while letting God, not self, do the lifting, for self-love, selfishness, and covetousness trust own abilities and merits for salvation and fail unto eternal loss, whereas the Holy Spirit breaks down self-love, self-approval, and an accusing spirit so Christ may dwell in the cleansed heart and bring victory.
Humble yourselves under God's mighty authority, power and control, trusting Him to lift you up in His own appointed time. This humbling is each person's own voluntary, daily work, not something to wait for God to do, for if a person will not humble himself God will bring him low, and only the humble can be accepted and honored. True humility is entire surrender and dependence on God, giving up self-trust, self-sufficiency, pride, self-righteousness and claims of merit, with a teachable, childlike spirit that confesses and forsakes sin and accepts instruction and correction. Exaltation comes only from God in due time, for self-uplifting brings abasement and opens the soul to temptation, while God lifts up those who bow low and wait patiently under trial and suffering, even to a place beside Christ and the unfading crown of glory. It stands with being clothed with humility and subject one to another, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, joined to casting all care upon Him because He cares, and to staying sober and watchful against the adversary until the God of all grace makes perfect and established after suffering awhile.
Command to Humble Oneself
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God means to place oneself low under His mighty authority and power and to trust Him to raise up at the right, appointed time. It is shown in a lowly spirit, unpretentious testimony, and a life that does not seek attention. The exaltation is His work in His timing, not self-lifting.
Humbling is a person's own voluntary work, to be done daily, and not to be waited for as something God will do for him. It is far better to keep the heart daily humbled before God than to require His hand to bear heavily to humble and bring into a proper position. Each one can either abase himself or build himself up in pride until God abases him, and for ministers this means daily self-humbling, pressing close to Christ, and accepting denial of self, care, responsibility and suffering for truth instead of shunning what is unpleasant, so that power attends the work. To ask God to humble through severe acts of judgment while refusing to humble oneself leads astray to ruin, with the Spirit withdrawn and strength failing until overthrown. Those resisting God's work must humble themselves, take hold of His help, and prepare to work unitedly and earnestly. Recognizing lack of sanctified wisdom leads to seeking the Lord wholeheartedly, giving up pride, and accepting the humble path He marks out rather than waiting for repeated chastening.
If a person will not humble himself, God will humble him, for His providential discipline brings the proud low. Those in positions of trust must give up domineering commands and controlling authority, learn Christ's meekness and loveliness, accept His yoke and help bear His burdens, or the Lord will humble them under His mighty hand. Humbling means searching the heart and letting God remove prejudice, pride and self-sufficiency, breaking the heart upon Christ the Rock, and acknowledging and confessing sins, seeking forgiveness from those wronged, and opening the heart to Christ. God can accept, bless and honor only those who humble themselves under His hand and give Him the glory instead of taking praise for success and ability, submitting to His control. Those in responsible positions as messengers, stewards and ambassadors must voluntarily humble themselves or be humbled, rejecting meeting the world's plans, catering to its ideas, smooth words, deceitful prophesying, men-pleasing and accusing those God is using, and instead lifting the standard high in the dignity and sacredness of the calling as watched by heavenly intelligences and a cloud of witnesses. Those called to sacred service who walk modestly and humbly before Him are accepted; otherwise He will humble them.
God's mighty hand is His mighty authority, power, supervision, care and timing, and to humble under it is to submit to His control, His ways and His counsel. His goodness and mighty authority give reason to humble before Him. In church leadership this means serving without acting superior or domineering and being subject one to another, and in the Nashville publishing work keeping a constant sense of His supervision, with His converting power needed for such humility and for success. It includes accepting mistreatment without self-exaltation by looking to Jesus who is meek and lowly, and entrusting every care to God because He cares.
Humility is entire surrender to God and dependence on Him, giving up self-sufficiency, self-trust, one's own wisdom, weak judgment, ability and merits, and relying wholly on Jesus. Success lies not in what a person does but in that surrender so He can work the life, and only meek and lowly hearts can be blessed and made usable. When God's message comes, submitting to His power by falling on Christ the Rock to be broken in pride opens the way to life, hope, strength and rebuilding on His plan at once, while holding to self-sufficiency wastes time and precious opportunities. Trusting self instead of depending on God turns judgment aside and gives Satan advantage, whereas God used the man when he was little in his own eyes. Humility and meekness make work acceptable to God by leading to depend on Christ rather than exalt self.
Humility is a teachable, childlike spirit that accepts God's instruction, reproof and correction, brings will and conduct under His control, dies to self, and keeps learning in Christ's school because one's ways are not His ways. It means becoming learners rather than judging new light before prayerfully searching Scripture, exalting Jesus and lying low while being subject one to another. It gives up pride, self-importance, conceit and independent judgment, becomes willing to be corrected and to respect and love others, and lets hereditary tendencies and wrong habits be disciplined and often put to death. God tests whether a person will do this, for spiritual life requires being shaped by the divine model. Coming like a little child, turning from self-will and letting self be broken and die, means stopping a course of error, retracing steps and returning to prayer before leading others farther from truth.
Humility lays aside pride, self-esteem, false dignity, self-righteousness and claims of merit, and means contrition, confessing and forsaking sin and putting it away now. It keeps nothing back from God and confesses faults to brethren while the atoning Sacrifice pleads, confronting sin now rather than relying on one's own works or righteousness. Such confession does not detract from dignity and influence but, through being broken on the Rock, brings true heavenly dignity from Christ. The humble and broken heart meets the condition for favor, appreciates God's love and the cross, receives ample blessing and health of soul, helps save others, and will be lifted up at the proper time. In the time of atonement it means deep contrition of soul and earnest searching of heart, with God appearing to comfort and bless those who truly seek Him. It surrenders pride, removes hatred, restores loving fellowship, clears obstacles to prayer and worship, and prepares for forgiveness and acceptance, while daily repentance, conversion and surrender change character and overcome selfishness.
Humility renounces laboring for the highest place and the honor of men, and instead is clothed with humility and subject one to another, the younger submitting to the elder. It takes up every duty however lowly, cooperates with Christ in salvation, does God's work faithfully instead of haphazardly, accepts whatever work and place God assigns, hides self in Christ, and casts all care upon God because He cares. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, and in due time He Himself will exalt them, sending showers of blessing and changing murmuring at hardship into thanksgiving and praise. Cherishing self-love and seeking exaltation opens the soul to temptation and weakens reason and judgment, while seeking to exalt self brings abasement and mistakes. It examines the spirit, lives as God can own and bless, appears in meekness, lowliness, self-denial and unreserved giving to Christ without pressing forward or esteeming self superior, allowing God to work through and honor others.
Humility means humbling oneself instead of trying to humble others by criticizing them and exposing their defects, which is Satan's special temptation to hinder the work. Success comes from surrender rather than from what one does, and God Himself lifts in due time the one who takes the low place. Following Christ's path of self-denial, self-sacrifice and self-surrender helps the doer and brethren and sisters also, clearing the cloud of misunderstanding and removing what hinders pure, loving fellowship. By surrendering pride and confessing one's own sins it removes hatred, restores loving fellowship, and clears obstacles to prayer and worship.
Humility comes from self-examination that sees personal weakness, sharp traits needing repressing, jealousy, suspicion, distrust and set will, leaving so much work to be done for oneself that the heart humbles itself. Drawing nearer to God makes defects appear more clearly and calls for humbling rather than self-lifting; if lifted up, the Lord does it. That humbling hangs the helpless soul upon Christ to supplement ignorance with His wisdom, weakness with His strength and frailty with His enduring might, remaining connected with God as lights in the world and preparing for the inheritance of the saints. Affliction under His hand should lead to faithful self-examination not for self-satisfaction but for renewed knowledge and true holiness, putting away defects and emerging purified reflecting Christ's image.
Promise of Timely Exaltation
Exaltation comes only from God in due time, and is to be left to Him in trust rather than seized by self-love or striving for place. Self-uplifting produces a character God cannot approve, and all work done in self-uplifting and in weak human ability alone forms what He will not approve. Seeking to exalt self opens the soul to temptation and weakens reason and judgment, while renouncing self-uplifting and working in Christ's lines with divine cooperation brings God's lifting at the right time. If lifting comes it is the Lord who raises, not one's own self-exaltation, and this is learned as drawing nearer to God reveals personal weakness and defects.
God lifts up those who bow low and wait patiently under trials and persecution, with exaltation following suffering in His time and not through pride or self-assertion. Humility belongs with mutual submission, faithful service, self-denial, continual effort, and reliance on God through suffering and conflict with the devil rather than on self. The promise points beyond present suffering to future exaltation, encouraging believers to remain humble and hopeful rather than discouraged, and to trust and wait patiently especially after the cause of God has suffered, knowing He will protect them as frontguard and rearward. The appointed lifting includes the final reward given at the appointed time.
Joseph illustrates the promise, for like him the faithful may be brought low by false accusations, humiliation, slander, and wicked revenge, yet Providence can turn enemies' schemes to good. His temptations, adversity, and hardship prepared him for an exalted position, and his honor came after humiliation. God overrules the enemy's devices for good and raises higher in His own time those who trust Him and remain faithful through being brought low.
The greatest elevation is becoming like Christ, with self emptied of evil and the heart opened to Jesus through humble submission to God. When Jesus Christ does the lifting it is pure, clean, and holy, laying aside self, ambition, self-exaltation, and working in self, and walking humbly with God with the eye single to His glory. Those so lifted walk as Christ walked, with speech after the divine likeness revealing His gentleness, purity of speech, and moral elevation beyond price, bringing a different atmosphere into home life and daily practice, while Christ Himself works in them to raise the converted worker to a high plane of action and a higher tone in all service without crippling energy. This humbling gives correct knowledge of self, knowledge of the limit of power and extent of ability, dying to self and living to Christ, seeking God with all the heart to be converted and born again, talking less and being still before God, setting words and actions in order under divine influence beginning with changing an unsavory influence in the home, giving a new character with Christ within as the hope of glory and making a happy man who honors God in home, church, and world.
The exaltation God gives is recorded in heaven as a place beside Christ in the heavenly courts and the crown of immortal glory, received through doing God's work faithfully instead of haphazardly and trusting Him rather than seeking self-exaltation which leads to mistakes. It is the unfading crown of glory shared in the glory to be revealed and given when the Chief Shepherd appears, requiring being subject one to another and clothed with humility, with younger workers subject to the elder and those of long experience and seeking counsel, and with the church ruled not by official authority but by personal Christlike influence under the great Chief Shepherd's view. It is also the inheritance of the saints, granted to the lowly and contrite who lay human pride in the dust, with wisdom given to the humble that is withheld from the self-sufficient worldly-wise. It comes as Christ's call, Friend, come up higher, to one who consents to live in the valley of humiliation through lowly faithful service, holding one talent as God's sacred gift, faithfully performing minor duties, moving ever upward toward a richer holier life in Christ's service, encouraging others by example, not disparaging another's gift, growing from faithfulness in least to faithfulness in much and from weak to strong, laying hold firmly on truth through connection with God, living Christ's meekness and lowliness daily, learning of God and taught of God, and loving God supremely and neighbor as self.
The humble receive grace, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, and in due time He Himself will exalt them according to promise, sending showers of blessing on the church and changing murmuring at hardship into songs of thanksgiving and praise. Those who fail through self-sufficiency should humble themselves under God's hand and bow low before Him, accepting the lessons of defeat rather than blaming circumstances or feeling talent unappreciated, and then God will teach them through experience instead of leaving them to discomfiture, defeat, and backsliding under trial. This requires everyone working for souls to work stripped of self, with no scolding or fretting, no arbitrary authority, no pointing of the finger and vain speaking, and no overweening confidence in self, but with heart warmed with love for Jesus and for precious souls, since self-sufficiency reveals weakness and Christ's absence. God delights to give strength and courage to the humble and to honor and lift them up, as those who recognize human weakness and frailty and lean on Him who is mighty to save, standing firmly for truth while relying on God rather than self, and He accepts them through Christ's perfection with imputed righteousness.
Safety and greatness lie in seeing oneself as little and trusting God, because God alone has power to make great and will be with those who humble themselves to help their work and fellow workers, exalting in due time all who humble themselves. Human standing or past occupation does not determine worth before God, for those who seem great may be lightly esteemed because of their hearts while God may regard as great those whom others disparage. Humbling means turning thoughts to God and changing life and character, accepting Christ's yoke, learning His meekness and lowliness, and keeping the natural desire to be first in check, and as they return to Him God will raise them up above those who strive to exalt themselves, so that the lowliest disciple stands higher in His kingdom than one whose self-exaltation has misled unbelievers.
Setting in Peter's Counsel
The command belongs with being clothed with humility and being subject one to another, the younger submitting to the elder, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. To humble oneself under the mighty hand of God is to place oneself under His mighty authority with trust that He will lift up at the right and proper time. This humility rules out pride and coercive leadership, severity, criticism and domineering authority, requiring leaders to serve as examples rather than as superiors and lords. It means the church is to be ruled not by official authority but by personal Christlike influence, with younger workers subject to those of long experience, highly respecting them and seeking counsel, while those devising the work direct enthusiasm into right channels with kind advice instead of binding the work or discouraging willing workers.
It is joined to casting all care upon Him because He cares, entrusting every care to God in prayer and faith instead of worry, fretting and scolding. It is joined to staying sober and watchful against the adversary the devil who walks as a roaring lion seeking to devour, resisting him firm in faith while sharing the same afflictions with brethren in the world. In trials and conflict with the devil dependence is to be on God rather than on self. Until then the God of all grace who calls to eternal glory by Christ Jesus makes perfect, established, strengthened and settled after suffering awhile. Humbling also means taking up every duty however lowly and cooperating with Christ in the work of salvation, leaving exaltation to God instead of laboring for the highest place and the honor of men, with promise of showers of blessing changing murmuring at hardship into thanksgiving and praise.
It is part of the exhortation faithful ministers and elders must heed in order to share in the glory to be revealed and receive an unfading crown of glory when the Chief Shepherd appears. Elders are to feed God's flock willingly and without greed or money-seeking, as examples rather than ruling as lords over God's heritage, with presidents of conferences and all workers doing their work under the view and directions of the great Chief Shepherd. It belongs to ministers who have experienced genuine conversion and are in living connection with Christ, acting as channels of light to the world and leading the flock. It belongs to the word to be presented by those laboring together with God to wrench men and women from Satan's grasp so he loses power over them, in connection with partaking of the divine nature through Christ's gift of His precious life to overcome worldly lust, with ministers working earnestly for salvation and seeking heaven on its given terms.
It was given as encouragement under severe trials and coming persecution to remain humble and hopeful rather than discouraged by present suffering, pointing beyond suffering to future exaltation. It applies to those who afflict their souls before God and live with solemn watchfulness in the last days, with sobriety. It belongs to the real work of cleansing and reform and solid spiritual work needed to stand in the great day of the Lord, with contrition and searching of heart in the time of atonement. It was a warning to the churches in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God so He may exalt them in due time when those gone out seek to carry on apostasy, create divisions and seduce souls to ruin. Holding oneself in consecration, devotion and humility draws near to God by prayer, contemplation and reading His Word, and when He draws near He lifts up a standard against the enemy that the enemy cannot pass so the enemy cannot take control of the mind, guards against being overcome, and in due time exalts and counts worthy to walk with Christ in white.
Humility in Church Leadership
In leadership, humbling oneself under God's mighty hand rules out pride, coercion, severity, criticism and domineering authority, for the church is to be ruled not by official authority but by personal, Christlike influence. Leaders are to serve as examples to the flock rather than as lords over God's heritage, doing their work under the view and direction of the great Chief Shepherd in expectation of the unfading crown of glory when He appears. This humility belongs with being clothed with humility and all being subject one to another, since God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, and with entrusting every care to God because He cares.
Those called to bear God's message to the world must exalt the message and not self, walking humbly with God day by day and taking up the work appointed to them. They work under the guidance of the Great Shepherd as faithful caretakers worthy of responsibility, and God will lift them up at the right time. Humility forbids putting a man where God should be, teaching fellow men to look to a man for wisdom, putting trust in man, taking the place of God, or making flesh an arm. No man's mind and judgment is to be a controlling power, for even a president is human, fallible and often in need of counsel from brethren, so workers are to make the Lord their trust, look to Him for guidance, follow His counsel when received, stand under Christ as Captain of salvation, and be left free to act upon their own judgment under God's moving influence without man's hand laid upon them to hinder them.
Younger workers are to be subject to the elder and to those of long experience in the work of the third angel's message, highly respecting and esteeming them and seeking them for counsel. Elders are to feed God's flock willingly and without greed as examples rather than ruling as lords, and those devising the work are not to bind about the work or discourage those who want to work but to direct their enthusiasm into right channels with kind, interested advice. Workers for souls are to work stripped of self, with no scolding, fretting, arbitrary authority, pointing of the finger, vain speaking, or overweening confidence in self, but with hearts warmed with love for Jesus and for souls, in loving harmony rather than criticism, faultfinding and animosity, working in Christ's way with divine cooperation. Success comes not from what people can do but from entire surrender to God, and each is to humble himself instead of trying to humble others by criticizing them and exposing their defects, for only meek and lowly hearts can be blessed and made usable, and God Himself will lift up in due time those who take that low place.
A desire for control, a critical spirit, self-sufficiency, an overbearing and self-exalting spirit, seeking to be first and making oneself supreme, carrying things in one's own way and arrogating power and authority must be subdued, laid aside and overcome by daily conversion under God's hand. Without this humbling a person becomes a snare to himself, without peace and upbuilding in the soul, an unsafe adviser who always sees a course opposite to brethren, pulls on the wrong side instead of working in harmony, manufactures many burdens for others, mars God's work, stirs strife and bitterness that spreads to other minds, loses brethren's confidence, and if not seen and overcome will be left to follow his own way, ruled by hereditary and cultivated tendencies instead of the Holy Spirit, and be found wanting. The same call keeps a constant sense of God's supervision and mutual subjection in the Nashville publishing work, calls workers in the health food business to watch and pray, put spiritual service ahead of financial gain and seize opportunities to bring the truth, and calls every sanitarium worker and nurse to consecration, meekness and lowliness without worldly display, since seeking self-exaltation abases while hiding self in Christ brings God's exaltation in due time as channels of light. Church school teachers in this humility refuse dependence on poor self, depend on strength from God, openly honor Him as wholly on the Lord's side, and find oneness with Christ and with those taught, with a Helper beside them and the affection of children, while ministers and medical missionaries are to walk humbly, use gifts to bless others, and serve together under Christ without competing or attaching to human leaders.
Humility in Daily Discipleship
Humbling under the mighty hand is one's own daily work, not something to wait for God to do, for each person can either abase himself or build himself up in pride until God abases him. It is far better to keep the heart daily humbled before God than to require His hand to bear heavily to humble and bring into proper position, and the proud heart must be humbled before God every day or He will humble it. That daily humbling means examining one's own heart and abandoning superiority over fellow workers. It includes disciplining self and bringing words, manners, and habits into line with Christ's will, whereupon God removes disagreeable traits and gives supreme love for Him and pure, unselfish love for others. For ministers of the gospel it means pressing close to Christ and accepting denial of self, care, responsibility, and suffering for the truth instead of shunning what is unpleasant, so that power attends the work, and success attends effort in proportion to consecration, self-denial, and self-sacrifice. Following Christ's path of self-denial, self-sacrifice, and self-surrender in this humbling helps the one who does it and helps brethren and sisters also, clearing away the cloud of misunderstanding and removing everything that hinders pure, loving fellowship.
Humility includes accepting mistreatment without self-exaltation and looking to Jesus, who is meek and lowly, to learn this humility and find rest. It means submitting to God and to one another rather than responding with pride when feeling wronged, abused, or misjudged, trusting God who gives grace to the humble and will exalt them in due time. When wronged and deceived, or misjudged, or when others point out faults, humbling under God's hand means not complaining but accepting correction and recognizing one's own wrongs.
Humbling under God's authority means obeying Him and following Jesus, putting truth into practice, and faithfully using each opportunity and the light received, and God lifts up those who submit. It means giving up self-sufficiency and recognizing need of God's wisdom and power, for humility and meekness are needed for work to be acceptable, leading to dependence on Christ rather than self-exaltation. It means committing work to God and doing it faithfully, sincerely, truthfully, and rightly rather than trying to raise self, and God will lift up those who do so, with work bringing its reward as His light, grace, and salvation are revealed.
Humbling means drawing near to God so He will draw near, looking to Jesus, taking hold of His strength by living faith, and making peace with God, instead of complaining over unsuccessful labor and desiring the praise of men. It includes casting the helpless soul upon Jesus Christ, from whom light and help can come, and cultivating humility and entrusting the helpless life to Christ rather than seeking people's applause or living for their opinion. It means accepting His correction, for He reveals errors and what must be done to please Jesus, and He will bind up. Those who serve, especially those with responsibilities, are not to rely on own strength or plans or be led by inherited or cultivated tendencies, but to be taught and led by the Holy Spirit with the wisdom God gives.
Such humility prepares the heart to receive the Holy Spirit by laying aside self-esteem and desire for supremacy, putting away defects of character, and coming to God as little children. When people humble themselves with confessing and forsaking sin, they make room for the Holy Spirit, and truth can be received to sanctify the heart. It means coming now with confession and genuine repentance, cleansing from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and making thorough, complete work without stopping short, whereupon God abundantly pardons, which is for present and eternal good as the end of earth's history approaches so the sinner may stand with the righteous and endure God's purity and glory.
It requires repenting, being converted, and surrendering to God every day, which allows Him to change the character and overcome selfishness. It means stopping resistance to warnings, breaking the spell of deception by repentance and conversion so sins may be blotted out, no longer uniting with evil agencies to hurt God's children and wound Christ in His saints, nor turning time and talents aside to a work God did not assign. It means giving up erring judgment that estranges from God and leads into serious errors, and submitting to God's counsel after much lost time so a good work may still be accomplished. It calls for putting self under the mighty hand to go forward to do good, forsaking sin and clearing the King's highway instead of walking so guilt rests on one's own head, and clinging to God to receive the mighty movings of His Spirit. It means seeking God's favor and putting sin away rather than trusting own judgment or condemning others, and admitting and correcting wrongs thoroughly rather than leaving them unresolved, clearing away what obstructs God's work, for refusal weakens moral power and separates the soul from God.
This humbling is urgent in the short time before the final close of mercy, when the world's wickedness is like Noah's day and people may fail to hear the last call, so they must wake up and get ready before it is too late. Relief, hope, and success in carrying God's message for this time come through humbling under His mighty hand rather than self-exaltation or human devising, for His people have departed from His way and He will vindicate His messages and dealings. Afflictions should lead the church to humble itself and follow Christ's example by doing good, and for students this means turning from amusements such as ball playing to missionary work, opening Scripture to neighbors and sharing its light.
It means standing firmly on eternal truth and letting God shape the work and impress hearts, rather than imposing human judgment or methods. It is a blessing to be thankful for and to want in one's own life, that He may exalt in due time. It calls for acknowledging wrongdoing and accepting God's correction rather than boasting in gifts, position, or achievements, for God can give strength to the weak and enable finishing the course with joy. Refusal to humble under God's mighty hand leaves unwillingness to accept His power over nature or learn from suffering, as with Israel in drought seeking another cause, while those who have done wrong must face the full extent of wrongs and humble before God rather than rely on misplaced sympathy or partial change, letting God build up.
It follows Christ's example, for even the Majesty of heaven humbled Himself, so people should let God exalt them and let Jesus shape minds, dispositions, and characters. It means learning Christ's meekness and loveliness, accepting His yoke, and helping bear His burdens, giving up domineering commands and controlling authority, especially by those in trust, or the Lord will humble them. It appears in not pressing forward or regarding self as superior, but in meekness, lowliness, self-denial, and giving self without reservation to Christ, which allows God to work through and honor others. Learning His meekness and lowliness rather than exalting self is needed to receive God's help and be transformed by the Holy Spirit, to resist a temperamental snare and remain in God's love. Where hearts have hardened, humility is expressed through humiliation, repentance, and true conversion in learning His meekness and lowliness.
Closeness to Christ leads to humbling under the mighty hand, where self-confidence, self-sufficiency, and self-important words give way to prayer, faith, kindness, truth, and tenderness, joined to loving one another as Christ loved, and living the truth ends unkind criticism. It means giving up self-esteem, self-credit, claims of merit, ambition, resentment, and pursuit of earthly honor, and God will lift up. Paul's experience illustrates it: when God's law revealed sin, he confessed guilt, repented, trusted Christ, and became gentle and lowly, giving glory to God. Such a humble life bears the Spirit's good fruit and serves others rather than seeking honor or pulling others down.
It overcomes the struggle for supremacy and the masterful, self-directed spirit by submitting to God rather than seeking one's own way, for humility and obedience are essential lessons for any who would lead, and the masterful spirit must be recognized and controlled. Submitting natural character to Jesus allows God-given abilities to become strength and power for good instead of being turned to selfish ends. It means giving up self-importance and conceit, becoming willing to be corrected and to respect and love others rather than relying on limited ability, for God raises the humble in His time, while selfish ambition leads to humiliation and willingness to suffer for Christ with striving for spiritual growth is ambition God honors. Humility marks excellence of spirit, for God resists the proud and self-sufficient and gives grace to the humble, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. When the Holy Spirit enlightens, people recognize self-denial and genuine humility as first requirements for successful service, and seeing themselves as the Lord sees them brings sorrow and humiliation, including where disagreements show lack of overcoming, calling all to humble beneath the mighty hand for exaltation at the right time.
Without this humbling, proud, self-righteous, vain and selfish hearts offer prayers that are not accepted because they come from pride and selfishness, and pride threatens ruin. If there is no reformation, affliction will come and joy will turn to heaviness until hearts are humbled, and affliction under God's hand should lead to faithful self-examination unto renewed knowledge and true holiness, putting away defects and emerging purified reflecting Christ's image. Humbling opens the way to redeem the time, lead exemplary lives, and bless self and others instead of being a stumbling-block scattering from Christ, lest the unhumbled remain what God cannot accept and become stubble for fire in the day of God. Rich spiritual experience comes through seeking God wholeheartedly and humbling beneath His mighty hand while letting God, not self, do the lifting, for self-love, selfishness, and covetousness trust own abilities and merits for salvation and fail unto eternal loss, whereas the Holy Spirit breaks down self-love, self-approval, and an accusing spirit so Christ may dwell in the cleansed heart and bring victory.