Posted on 05/15/2019 5:15:55 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility” (Proverbs 15:33).
“. . . and before honour is humility.”
“And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
The way up is not up, the way up is down. Go down, and God will bring you up. Before Christ was honored, He humbled Himself. Before we will be honored, we must humble ourselves.
Joseph was put in Potiphar’s prison, the three Hebrew children were cast into the furnace, Daniel was put in the den of lions. They were all humbled, and then they were exalted. They were humbled, they were made slaves, and then God honored them, and He exalted them.
“Before honor is humility.”
“But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:6-10).
Some people are more interested in reigning now, and being lifted up now, than they are of being humble. God is never going to honor you in any area of life for Him, whether it be the ministry or business, until you have been broken. God only uses people that He has broken, and He breaks our will in order to mold our will after His own will. That is the only way He can do it.
God is not interested in fixing used things, He is only interested in starting all over again with our will and our life. And that means to be broken and remade. It should be the prayer of our heart that, “God, I’ve made a mess out of it, now You take over!”
“And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it” (Jeremiah 18:4).
Let’s read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let’s keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread!
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