March 10

Day 271: Humility Will Be a Great Joy

There is a part of Psalm 18 that we may read, and then assume almost all of it applies to us, even describes us.

"With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous."

Most of us will gladly accept 3 out of the 4 above. And we gleefully accept that God does seem tortuous to those who don't want to believe or obey. However, this paragraph does continue with one more vital stanza.

"For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down."

Okay, all I need do is be humble. Got it. Or do I? Well, sometimes I am. Maybe. And other times I am not. With this internal dichotomy in mind, Brennan Manning describes himself. And me too.

"When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt. I hope and get discouraged. I love and I hate. I feel bad about feeling good. I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal. I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer."

Aside from the bit about beer consumption, Manning is describing himself (and me) only when he is brutally honest. Honesty and accurate self evaluation does cause one to be humble.

Those times of deep honesty and self evaluation are few and far between. We're certainly not continually humble. But this has me thinking; what will it be like for me to finally find myself face to face with God?

I have a sinking feeling I have no idea of what real humility feels like. But I will on that day. And it will be jolting. I suppose the more prideful someone is, the more jolting it will be.

On that day, somewhere in my future, I will experience a level of humility previously unknown. I will no longer be able to hide behind my little games, my social media presence, my facades.

It will just be me. And Him. Face to face. Whatever depth of humility I have maintained, or even in that ultimate moment will not save me. But He says He will save me. He promises He will save me. By His grace.

God is a lot of things. Things we are not. Back to Psalm 18, we learn that God is merciful, blameless, pure, and delights in saving the humble. Even if they don't come to Him with perfect humility.

He did also say He came to save the lost; those who were not looking for salvation through Him.

But what about the haughty, the prideful? Psalm 18 tells us He will seem tortuous to them. He will bring them down.

I read a quote from someone (I forget who) that said something like, "Hell will be where the haughty have wanted to be all along. As far away from God as possible. They should be happy to be there.

So how is it that in spite of my still prevalent haughtiness, my lack of humility I can be saved? It's found in the character of God. Even though God is God, God is humble.

Zechariah 9 said this to encourage the people of God: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

I know on that future day I will be jolted into a complete humility. I will have nothing prideful to think or say about myself. Any lingering haughtiness in me will be suddenly vaporized.

When I look upon the face of my humble Lord Jesus. And realize my new and complete humility will be a gift from Him. Because He has and will make me to be a child of the Father.

And my humility before Him will be a great joy.