“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”
that He may exalt you
“Exalt” means to lift up. The lifting here is the lifting of revival. God will cause us to rise high spiritually. God places us into an exalted, higher spiritual plane when we humble ourselves before him.
“Exalt” means promote. God will enable us in his plan. This promotion is not human recognition, for valid promotion must come from God. God promotes those who recognize His sovereignty over their lives. Humility is accepting God’s providential work in our lives.
Most Christians believe that human recognition by a crowd of people equals success. Nothing could be farther from God’s viewpoint. When God exalts people, Madison Avenue can do nothing about it. God elevates his own based on his character, so only God can promote the believer in this sense. God enables those who humbly recognize his power and sovereignty.
It is encouraging to those who undergo suffering that God will exalt them one day. Humbling ourselves to be elevated is a spiritual paradox. If you want to go up, go down.
Lk 14:11, “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
in due time
“Due time” means primarily due measure, due proportion. Mainly, “due time” carries the idea of due measure, fitness, or proportion. The New Testament uses “due time” to signify a season, a period possessed of specific characteristics.
This word for time does not mean time as a chronology but as marked by certain features (1 Th 5:1). “Time” here deals with the quality of time, while the other primary word for time (chronos) refers to the quantity of time.
“In due time” is in God’s time. God will do this in his own good time. When we humble ourselves under his hand, he will engage his help for us in his timing.
PRINCIPLE:
God promotes those who recognize his sovereign action over their lives.
APPLICATION:
Ask yourself, “Why have I been a spiritual buck private so long?” God does not promote us for producing so many brownie points with God. He enables us when we humble ourselves under his mighty hand when he sends trials our way.
God sent his Son to die for the ungodly with perfect timing.
Ro 5:6 “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”
God’s timing for our salvation centers around recognizing that we violate a holy God. Jesus died for the “ungodly.” Jesus died for those without God. Will you now embrace the death of Christ for your sins?
