Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. (James 4:10)
There’s today’s verse, just a few words, but lots to say. James is suggesting that we should lower ourselves to be lifted up. The opposite of humble or humility is pride. So we are called to swallow our pride. The Bible has many, many comparisons of humility and pride. You can find most of them in the book of Proverbs. Like take a look at what the Bible says about pride in the following verse:
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)
Sometimes we skim right over the warnings, don’t we? How wonderfully does this fit with James 4:10 above. Back in Proverbs the writer says “look out your pride is going to get the best of you, because your haughty spirit is gonna trip you up …you are going to fall DOWN”. And then comes James who says “Be humble in the sight of the Lord (which is everywhere since the Lord is omnipresent) and He shall lift you UP”. What a great contrast between the two states of the heart.
No matter how you look at it, God sees your heart — you can run, but you can’t hide.
