Proverbs 22:4 New Living Translation
4 True humility and fear of the Lord
lead to riches, honor, and long life.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.
Pride goes before destruction.
In an exaltation of power and freedom, Icarus flew so high that the sun melted the wax holding feathers on his wings, he crashed into the sea and drowned.
Eve and Adam wanted to be like God, and ended up mortal, expelled from the Garden. Nebuchadnezzar boasted, “Is not this great Babylon which I have built (Daniel 4:30)?” until God deprived him of his wits.
Pride comes naturally to the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve, but “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).”
Pride does not end in riches and honor and life.
Humility requires God’s grace, given often through rebukes, setbacks, God’s Word, parents, and teachers, until we learn that God is God, and we are not, and that other people deserve the same love and consideration we do.
The truly humble person thinks brutally, honestly about himself, not too highly, nor falsely denying what God has given: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).”
God commands us to cultivate humility.
“Humble yourselves (I Peter 5:6, James 4:10),” before God by accepting His Word and Providence without grumbling, and before other people by putting their interests above your own (Philippians 2:1-5).
Coupled with humility is the fear of the Lord.
The proud forget God, do not call on Him for help and forgiveness, and refuse to give Him any degree or measure of thanks.
The humble know they rely on Him even for breath itself.
The reward for true humility and fear of the Lord is “riches and honor and life,” the things God promised Abraham when He called him to go to a land filled with milk and honey, and young Solomon after he asked for wisdom (1 Kings 3:3-15).
It’s what Jesus promised Peter, who asked Him what he would get for having left everything to follow Him:
Very truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life (Mark 10:29-30).
There are great blessings and profound rewards in this life for for those who seek true humility through genuine heartfelt repentance and fear of the Lord (Psalm 51 and Psalm 32).
But because the world is malignantly proud and resists God, the rewards come “with persecutions” — job demotions and loss, separation and then divorce, homelessness, a ruined reputation, loss of personal freedom – that is jail and imprisonment, and (Acts 5:1-10) sometimes even severe accountability, death.
No follower of Jesus should ever get so prideful to believe that God promises a life of uninterrupted success resulting in “riches and honor and life,” such as Job had before God allowed Satan to take them away – our true riches are stored up for us in the age to come, when God gives the truly humble one eternal life.
We read in the Word that God resists the proud.
Proverbs 16:5 New Living Translation
5 The Lord detests the proud;
they will surely be punished.
Proverbs 21:4 New Living Translation
4 Haughty eyes, a proud heart,
and evil actions are all sin.
That the Lord hates the proud look and the arrogant heart.
Temporary riches and deceptive honor may come without humility – but the real thing demands it.
The truly wise, humble person realizes at the top of all things is God – the only true “way to the mountain top” comes as we humble ourselves before Him.
History is littered with those who thought they could become the big cheese – yet in the end – they only smelled like bad, over aged and spoiled limburger.
2 Kings 20:1-6 New Living Translation
Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery
20 About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.”
2 When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
4 But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard,[a] this message came to him from the Lord: 5 “Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own honor and for the sake of my servant David.’”
Like Hezekiah, when we genuinely, truly humble ourselves before God – we place ourselves in the direct path of “good health” “longer life” and blessings.
The truly wise man embraces humility and his own weaknesses.
He even glories in them because he knows that as he sees himself weak – then God becomes the strength in his life – the strength is his choices – the strength behind his behaviors, character and all future actions. (2 Corinthians 12:6-10)
God also speaks His truth to our haughty lives through this proverb to tell us succinctly that the other twin of riches, honor, and life is the fear of the Lord.
This is a respect and intrinsic honor shown to our Sovereign God, His Word, and His complete and perfect judgment on all matters.
We are told at the very beginning of Proverbs that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Without a proper reverent fear of God – we will degenerate into a pride and self-assuredness which will lead us astray from wisdom. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25)
This fear of God often begins with a terror initially as we grasp Who God is – and where we stand before Him.
Imagine the moment Paul grasped the true fear of the Lord.
He had settled into a self-assured sense of his own right-ness in his religious views and stands.
This had led him to the point of zealously persecuting Christians to the death – and imprisoning others.
On his way to Damascus to continue his war on the church – Jesus manifest His ultimate power and knocked Paul off his horse and blinded his eyes with light.
Imagine the fear that must have gripped Paul when he heard that the answer to “Who are you Lord?” was, “I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting.”
The fear of God had to almost paralyze this man who lay on the road.
But that moment of terror was also the beginning of wisdom for Paul.
It led him away from a religion of effort and self-righteousness – to the true wisdom and ultimate truth of God’s grace in the gospel.
There are many voices teaching us, telling us, conning us on all of the quickest and easiest ways of how to get, be rich, honored, and truly alive in this world.
Unless they are teaching us, telling us that the way to these things is through the path of true humility and the fear of God . . . they are ultimately wrong.
God will vigorously resist those who take other messages than this one.
Acts 2:38-39 New Living Translation
38 Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away[a]—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”
But for those who embrace humility and the fear of the Lord – there is a wealth, an honor, and a God promised eternal life that can never be taken from them.
Truly theirs is the wisest way of achieving them – and holding to them forever.
The Day of Pentecost, empowered by the Holy Spirit, Peter preached, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38).
In other words,
“by your baptism, Put off your old way of living and all your own attempts to be holy in your own strength. Put off the FACADE of being a Christian, and put on Jesus Christ. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promise is for you!”
According to the Scriptures, three thousand truly humbled souls were added to the Church that day — three thousand religious people who had been doing the best they could to be godly in their own strength; three thousand who were perhaps tired of learning about God and His former power; three thousand who noticed that there were people who actually possessed the power, Spirit, of God!
So what must you and I do in order to get this power of God today?
After all, we will surely need it in order to confront the days ahead of us.
First, we must wave our white flags, surrender ourselves and return to the full purpose that God intended for our lives on this earth: to be living witnesses of who He is, which requires truest humility, for we will be mocked and ridiculed.
Yet, regardless of what the world may think of us, there must be a resolve in our heart that says, “I don’t care what it will cost. I want this new life, this strength to go with God, strength to share God, and I will not settle for my being lukewarm.”
This is a choice you and I must make.
Remember, the promise of the Holy Spirit is to you, to your children, to the young, the old, the educated, the uneducated, the strong, the weak.
Do you and I really, truly, want it — and the lifestyle that accompanies it?
If we are genuinely willing to allow ourselves to be humbled, I encourage us to go before the Lord in humility and ask him to fulfill HIS greater promise to us.
He will surely be faithful to humble us to the Truths of HIS active, living Word.
Humbled as his Church, we will return to the power of God in these last days!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Abba Father, God of Righteousness, Peace and Love, we humble ourselves before you, prostrate and penitent, for all wisdom, all knowledge, all virtues, come from you, Who are the inexhaustible source of all Holiness. Your Holy Word teaches us to seek truth, purity, godliness and knowledge that leads to love and harmony. You are the embodiment of love, and we are nothing without you, which proves, most assuredly and most undeniably, undoubtedly, that where there is no love, there is nothing.
We are naught, in your sight, without the blessing of the generous spirit of love. Sharing this spirit of benevolence, means caring for our lesser endowed, poorer brethren, for you, God, are impartial in your great and perfect love, making the sun shine on the rich and poor, in equal measure. Lord, may we not lose your favor, for reasons of selfish pride. Teach us to practice humility in all our worldly dealings.
Bless us with true Christian humility, in imitation of Christ, for which you have graciously promised manifold rewards, for it is a grace of great price in your sight. May we fear your greatness and justice in condemning all that is false and imperfect in us. By the power of thy Holy Spirit, May we be sanctified and purified from all grave misdemeanors, by transforming our lives to gain the merits and comforts of this life, and happiness of the next, promised to us, in Jesus’ Name. Alleluia, Amen
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 