The value of humility

Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.” And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well. (Luke 7:2–10)

On Monday I had another eye appointment. I’d earlier gone to my regular optometrist who suspected the beginning of problem with the other eye and sent me to a specialist who gave me weekly shots and said I’d need them for the rest of my life. However this one was several weeks from the previous shot. However, for some reason, I was even more nervous than usual. Getting a needle in the eye is not fun.

On the way there, I prayed, mostly for a calm attitude. However, I also asked for a good result. The surprise happened; the tests showed no more symptoms. I believed God could do that but didn’t know if He would. The next check up is months from now.

In the above passage, Jesus went with the centurion, not because of his good reputation. This man understood Jesus’ authority, but he also understood that he was not worthy to have Jesus in his home, and that He could heal from wherever He was. In other words, he knew that Jesus was no ordinary man. He was able to heal his servant without any merit or doing anything to deserve such a blessing.

In my car on the way to the eye doc, I was thinking more about my lack of worth and about this painful procedure than about deserving anything from the Lord, never mind a reversal on the tests from the last visit. Oddly enough, having that happen makes me feel even less worthy. It also makes me realize the important relationship between faith and humility. Those with great faith never feel as if they deserve blessings or rewards, the opposite of how even Christians can assume God owes them.

Lord, yesterday, people disappointed me and I felt unworthy. Today the same people blessed me, yet my first reaction was to thank God rather than think I was due that blessing. Jesus, being a Christian with faith in You is so different than being my old self. You said this: ”Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12) and Peter learned it: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:6) so that I might learn it also. Again, I am blessed.

 

 

Genuine repentance…

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat every plant in the land, all that the hail has left.” So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts. The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled on the whole country of Egypt, such a dense swarm of locusts as had never been before, nor ever will be again. They covered the face of the whole land, so that the land was darkened, and they ate all the plants in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Not a green thing remained, neither tree nor plant of the field, through all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.” So he went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go. (Exodus 10:12–20)

Evangelicals often say if we confess our sin and ask for forgiveness, that means we are saved and our lives changed. This did not work for the Pharaoh. Odd, and many are offended that the Bible says God hardened his heart:

And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. (Exodus 4:21)

It is a bit shocking, but the Bible says that God knows the human heart and those who try to manipulate God with confessing sin so He will do what they want Him to do are only fooling themselves. Note, this man wanted forgiveness “just this once” indicating a lack of true repentance.

Some say that having a hard heart is the natural result of sin. In other words, if a sinner does “not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gives them up to a debased mind” (Romans  1:28) and if they resist the Spirit, He “takes his holy Spirit from them” (Psalm 51:11). That is, if anyone sins against the light He gives, He withdraws that light. If anyone stifles their natural affections of kindness or compassion, it is a spiritual law that those affections wither and decay. This could be what happened to Pharaoh. It was not so much God's abnormal interference with his attitude, but the natural effect upon his soul when he faked repentance to get his own way. He was not after forgiveness, only wanted the locusts taken away. 

True repentance is about yielding all to God, about accepting His way of doing things. I cannot say, “I will serve You if You remove my problems” as if salvation involves a bargaining chip. My example is Jesus:

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8)
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you. (1 Peter 5:6)

Jesus, saying yes to You means yes to all things, trusting You to either use them or lose them, depending on Your perfect will, not mine. I can fight and resist the enemy’s lies, but I cannot fight or resist Your will or what You do in my life that makes me upset or uncomfortable. It is yielding to You in faith that brings peace.

 

High and Lifted Up

 

 

There are no words beginning with X that point to God, but there are a few that sound as if they do. One of them is EXALT and we exalt Him because of His holiness and excellence.

In the OT, three verbs are translated into forms of this exalt word. One is to make something great, God often being the subject, yet we do not make Him great by our praise; He is already great!

The second verb usually means to go up or ascend not always pointing to God but to the actions of His people. The third is describing things that are exalted. It can refer to stars and other things that are lifted up, but more often points to God.

The psalmists point out how we can exalt Him personally: “The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation” and corporately, “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!”

These song writers also exalt God globally and universally: “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” and “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!”

Psalm 99:2–5 offers a few of many reasons why God is exalted: “The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he! The King in his might loves justice. You have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he!”

Isaiah 6:1 tells how that prophet was given the privilege of seeing God’s glory and exalting Him: “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.”

The NT also translates three verbs into forms of exalt. One means “to look up, lift up” and has several senses. Another one means “to magnify” pointing to praise for God but also referring to His power to make great anything He chooses.

The third verb is similar to the third verb in the OT, but in the NT it is used almost exclusively in a theological sense: first to exalt Jesus and second in reference to God’s promise to the humble.

Jesus was exalted when He was lifted up on the cross. This seems a strange thing unless we know what His crucifixion  accomplished. He fulfilled the saving grace of God illustrated in the OT situation where Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness giving people salvation from the experience of being bitten. Jesus told how His identity would be revealed and His source of power being seen as He was ‘lifted up’ or being exalted in His death. He also said in John 12:32, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Acts 5:31 affirms that “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” However, this comes only to those who bow before Him. We are told, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” and to, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. These two themes are brought together in the life and death of Jesus. He humbled Himself and God has exalted Him as Philippians 2:5–11 describes:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

When my focus is on Jesus, every part of His life, death and exaltation produces in me a heart filled with praise for all that He is and has done, and for all He will do!