“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

We now come to the 10^th divine directive – “humble yourselves.”

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,

James again takes up the subject of humility (4:6).  The word “humble” means to make low, bring low.  We make ourselves low when we see the greatness and majesty of God.  Humility is primarily vertical towards God, not horizontally towards others.

The words “in the sight of” come from a Greek term combined of two words: in and eye.  A humble person lives his life knowing that God watches everything he does.  He lives in the eye of God.  Humility always relates to the Almighty majesty of God.   This is humility in the sight of God, not men.

Is 6:5, “So I said:

‘Woe is me, for I am undone!

Because I am a man of unclean lips,

And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;

For my eyes have seen the King,

The Lord of hosts’.”

Humility is the surefire cure for carnality.

Php 2:3-3, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. ⁴ Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

and He will lift you up

This phrase promises that God will elevate us to new spiritual heights if we humble ourselves before Him.  We will find ourselves in a new sphere of spirituality through humility.  This is the result, not the cause, of God’s lifting us to new spiritual heights.

Mt 23:12, “And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

God will raise us to the summit of spiritual prosperity when we recognize that everything we have, we have because of His grace.

Ro 12:3, “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”

1 Co 4:7, “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”

PRINCIPLE:

The way down is the way up spiritually.

APPLICATION:

Pride is our biggest spiritual problem.  We carry the pride of face, place, and race.  If we do not humble ourselves, God will have to do it for us.

2 Co 12:21, “…lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.”

Revival comes when we humble ourselves before the majesty of God.  Humility allows God to do His work of grace in us.

2 Ch 7:14, “…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”