Bible Studies

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Humility

Humility is that most evasive of character traits which, when we declare ourselves to have it, we’ve lost it… or have we?

The Old Testament prophet Micah says:

He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

With this he hits upon the central truth that effects our lives as Christians – what does the Lord want from me?
Of the three things mentioned, we want to home in on the last one – to walk humbly with our God.

This is as much a challenge as it is a requirement from the Lord . But why is it so hard to walk humbly with our God?
Before we answer that we must state that it is actually impossible to walk with God unless we walk humbly. You don’t live proudly and walk humbly at the same time.

With this in mind we want to look at two Scriptures:
John 15: 1-5
Philippians 4:13

Four things face us in our struggle to walk humbly….

1. The desire to be independent from God.
2. The unwillingness to believe that we are actually helpless.
3. The reluctance to accept the goodness of God.
4. The uncertainty of the fact that we can do all things through Christ “who continually infuses strength into us”. (M. Lloyd Jones)

Stumbling Block No. 1
The desire to be independent from God.
Right from the word “go”, mankind has struggled with this. It was at the heart of the Fall. It was the thing that Satan aimed at when he tempted Adam and Eve: “You would be like gods.” In our struggle with sin, we struggle with dependence on God. It is like the cry of the French atheistic philosopher Jean Paul Sartre said:
“That God does not exist, I cannot deny. That my whole being cries out for God, I cannot forget.” We long for God, but our sin stands in the way and seeks to deviate us from our goal of knowing God. But when we choose to follow our sinfulness, we put up a barrier between God and us. He wants us to trust Him implicitly, but we would rather go it on our own. Trusting Him makes us feel vulnerable and out of control. It rails against our pride.

Stumbling Block No.2
The unwillingness to believe that we are actually helpless.
When we cry “I can’t do anything!!” we really mean it. It comes from an sense of inadequacy and frustration that we are not sufficient to meet a certain task. However, far from being a declaration of true humility, it shows an unwillingness to face the reality of our weaknesses. We so desperately want to be “good enough.” To accept our helplessness is the first step in becoming realistic about ourselves.
“I sometimes think that the very essence of the whole Christian position and the secret of a successful spiritual life is just to realize two things…
I must have complete, absolute confidence in God and no confidence in myself.” (Lloyd-Jones)

Stumbling Block No. 3
The reluctance to accept the goodness of God.
Like so many of our sinful traits, the reluctance to accept the goodness of God reflects the Eden experience of Adam and Eve. In the Garden the serpent sought to create doubt in the minds of his listeners about the character of God. Ever since, sin has been characterised by a distorted view of God. Our lack of faith in Him often comes from a lack of knowledge of Him and this is fed by a distorted view of the Father. Sometimes He is seen as an angry ogre, sometimes a distant judge, sometimes a disinterested all-powerful being (“If God really loved me He wouldn’t let this happen”). We still listen very intently to the Serpent!

Stumbling Block No. 4
The uncertainty of the fact that we can do all things through Christ “who continually infuses strength into us”.
If something is outside of our experience it is usually hard to come to terms with. If it goes against our grain to accept that “Apart from Him we can do nothing”, it is just as hard to believe that “We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us” – simply because one experience depends upon the other. There is no way we will be able to do “all things” if we are not committed in the first place to depending on Him! We need to put the two side by side – I can do nothing apart from Him, I can do all things with Him. If we try to do it any other way, we will come up short.

Clearing Away the Rubble…

1. The only way to clear away the stumbling block of independence from God is by:-
a) Worshipping – when we are filled with a sense of wonder in the presence of the Lord there is no room for ourselves. We become childlike in our faith.
b) Praying – Jesus set the example of dependency on the Father (Mark 2). At the beginning of a busy day He would get away on His own and pray to His Father.
2. The only way to clear away the stumbling block of unwillingness to
believe that we are actually helpless is by:-
a) Resolving in our hearts the fact that we are really, when it gets down to the naked truth, nothing but unworthy sinners before an awesomely holy God.
b) Realising that “My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”(2Cor 9:6)
3. The only way to clear away the stumbling block of our reluctance to accept the goodness of God is by:-
a) Intimacy with God – getting to know Him on a deeper level and learning to trust Him implicitly.
b) Listening – to the Word of God and to the Spirit of God.
4. The only way to clear away the stumbling block of our uncertainty of the fact that we can do all things through Christ “who continually infuses strength into us”, is by:-
a) Committing ourselves to leaning on Him and not our own
understanding (Proverbs 3:5)
c) Allowing our hearts to be governed by the greater principles of His will, and giving up our own small ambitions. We don’t need His strength to do those things which are not important to Him. The original context of Philippians 4:13 is learning to cope with everything that life throws at us. Let’s learn to live life to the max - in His strength.


“Come to me all of you who are weary and burdened down, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my burden is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

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