Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10
Reflecting one day on why God values humility so highly, sixteenth-century believer Teresa of Avila suddenly realized the answer: “It is because God is the supreme Truth, and humility is the truth. . . . Nothing good in us springs from ourselves. Rather, it comes from the waters of grace, near which the soul remains, like a tree planted by a river, and from that Sun which gives life to our works.” Teresa concluded that it’s by prayer that we anchor ourselves in that reality, for “the whole foundation of prayer is humility. The more we humble ourselves in prayer, the more will God lift us up.”
Teresa’s words about humility echo the language of Scripture in James 4, where James warned of the self-destructive nature of pride and selfish ambition, the opposite of a life lived in dependence on God’s grace (vv. 1–6). The only solution to a life of greed, despair, and constant conflict, he emphasized, is to repent of our pride in exchange for God’s grace. Or, in other words, to “humble yourselves before the Lord,” with the assurance that “he will lift you up” (v. 10).
Only when we’re rooted in the waters of grace can we find ourselves nourished by the “wisdom that comes from heaven” (3:17). Only in Him can we find ourselves lifted up by the truth.
Submit Yourselves to God
4 1 What causes fights and quarrelsg among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battleh within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill.i You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive,j because you ask with wrong motives,k that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
4 You adulterousl people,a don’t you know that friendship with the worldm means enmity against God?n Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.o 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in usb?p 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.”c q
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil,r and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.s Wash your hands,t you sinners, and purify your hearts,u you double-minded.v 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.w 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.x
11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.y Anyone who speaks against a brother or sisterd or judges themz speaks against the lawa and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it,b but sitting in judgment on it.
INSIGHT
- How does pride hinder true prayer and experience of God’s grace?
- How have you experienced the freedom of humility through prayer?
James identified two sinful heart attitudes detrimental to peace and harmony in the church: covetousness (4:1–3) and pride (vv. 5–10). Covetousness or greed is condemned in the eighth and tenth commandments (Exodus 20:15, 17). Jesus warned us to “guard against all kinds of greed” (Luke 12:15). Greed is idolatry (Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5) because, in essence, it’s the worship of self. What fuels this self-worship is pride. Solomon says, “Where there is strife, there is pride” (Proverbs 13:10). God’s humbling of the proud is His emphatic judgment (Proverbs 6:16–17; Daniel 4:37; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5).
PRAYER
Loving God, thank You for the gift of life with You. Thank You that I don’t need to be more than I am. Thank You that in You I find all that I need and more. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen!!
Read: James 4:1-11 (NIV) | Bible in a Year: Psalm 77-78 ; Romans 10
