What is Humility

Humility is not a subject we think that much about.  Oh, we know that pride is bad, because “pride comes before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18), and that the opposite of being prideful is being humble. So we just think of humility as being “not prideful”. And in trying to practice it, we often get it wrong.

The Bible actually has quite a bit to say about humility. We want to learn how to practice Biblical humility, without falling into the pitfalls that religious ideas about humility present to us.

Definition

Humility:  lit., to lie low or low lying.  Greek tapeinos

Webster’s defines humility as the state of being humble. And then goes on to defijne humble as

• Having a modest opinion of one’s own importance or rank
• Having or showing a consciousness of one’s defects or shortcomings; not proud, modest.

Other dictionaries also have

• The quality or state of not thinking you are better than other people

And the word modest means

• Having a limited and not overly high opinion of oneself and one’s abilities.
• Unassuming, unpretentious

Pride Bad, Humble Good

James 4:6 ⁶ But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

James is actually quoting from Proverbs 3:34.

We like to say, God is on my side”. A better question to ask is, “are we on God’s side?”  In the case of getting into pride, it says that God will resist you. He will oppose you.  He will not be on your side.

2 Samuel 22:28 ²⁸ You will save the humble people; But Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down.

Proverbs 29:23 ²³ A man’s pride will bring him low, But the humble in spirit will retain honor.

1 Peter 5:5-6 ⁵ Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

Matthew 23:12 ¹² And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

We have an interesting dichotomy here.  One of the meanings of pride is to lift yourself up or exalt yourself.  If we exalt ourselves, God will bring us down low (humble us).

But if we humble ourselves, God will exalt us – lift us up.

What Humility is Not

The worldly concept of humility is “I’m not worthy, I don’t deserve anything, I can’t do anything – I guess I’ll go eat worms”. That’s an exaggeration, but some Christians think along those lines.

The traditional idea has made humility a distasteful thing.  We think we have to lie: “Oh, that’s a beautiful picture you painted!”  “Oh, it’s not that good. I’ve seen other people do lots better”.

Humility is not about downgrading your worth or value as a person, or the value of things you do and create. Christians are very careful not to inflate their own importance, but they deflate it all the time.

Exalting Yourself Against the Knowledge of the Truth

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
⁵ casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

We should say and think what the Bible says about us.  Agree with God, don’t contradict Him.

Those that don’t understand might think you are arrogant when you say what God says about you.  In actuality, He paints us in a very exalted position.

Humility has a lot do with our interaction with others and our attitudes about them.

Jesus, when He knew He was going back to the Father, that He would be returning to His glory – sat down and washed the disciple’s feet. 

John 13:1-5 ¹ Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
² And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,
³ Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God,
⁴ rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.
⁵ After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

What is the significance of that? We don’t really have an intuitive grasp of what’s going on, because we don’t do foot washing nowadays.  We don’t have a need for it.  But picture yourself in the first century: everybody is wearing sandals, and most of the streets are unpaved. Your feet would get really dusty, almost immediately.  Mix that with a bit of sweat, and you have mud on your toes.

My wife and I have gone on hikes where she has worn “hiking sandals”.   I remember one hike in particular, up the back way to Bumpass Hell in Lassen Volcanic National Park, where they fires had come through. There was a fair amount of black soot on the trails.  And boy, did her feet get dirty!

Jesus even alludes to this in vs. 10:

John 13:10 ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”

You could have just taken a bath, your clothes are clean, and you walk across the street – and your feet are dirty.

Therefore, it was a point of middle eastern hospitality to provide a way to wash your feet when you came in. In your own home, you’d do it yourself.  In a wealthy home, it would be the job of a servant – usually the lowest ranking one – to wash the guests’ feet.

John 13:12-17 ¹² So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.
¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.
¹⁶ Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.
¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Humility = Trust

Matthew 18:3-4 ³ and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
⁴ Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

What is it about a child that is humble? What are the qualities of a child that God admires?

Trust

Unless he has been taught otherwise, a child automatically trusts his parents to provide every need, and has no anxiety over it.

Ever see the child of a good provider worrying about how the bills are going to get paid?

Unpretentiousness

A child is unimpressed by social or political position. A kid will barge right in whether Daddy is talking to the postman or the President. They have no superior attitude towards others with respect to color or social position (they have to be taught it).

Jesus was that way. Although He was the Son of God, He had no problems becoming one of us. He associated with those that were considered to be social outcasts.

Casting Your Cares

1 Peter 5:5-7 ⁵ Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
⁷ casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

We’ve looked at vs. 5 and 6 already, but look what follows in vs. 7 – it’s actually a part of the same sentence. The way that we can humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God is to cast all of our cares upon. Him. And the reason we can cast our cares upon Him, is because He cares for us.

Although the word care is used twice in this verse, they are actually different words in Greek and have very different meanings.

Casting your care – Gr. merimna, literally to draw in different directions. It has the meaning of a burdened state of mind, anxiety.

He cares for you – Gr. melo, literally it matters to Him concerning you. I.e., empathy.

1 Peter 5:7 AMPC Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.

This is related to humbling yourself as a little child. The reason a child doesn’t have cares is because they have cast them upon their parents – i.e., they trust that their parents are going to take care of things, so they don’t worry about them. That is exactly what we do when we cast our cares upon the Lord – we don’t worry because we trust our Heavenly Father to take care of us.

Now there is a difference between how and why a child can cast their cares versus an adult – the child does not have the responsibilities an adult has.  They don’t have to go to work to earn money to pay bills so they have a place to live with the lights on and food on the table.  They don’t have to plan the meals, do the shopping, and cook. So it is more complicated as an adult.

So how do we cast our cares on the Lord when we have responsibilities?  A familiar passage gives us some pointers:

Philippians 4:6-7 ⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

First the admonition – be anxious for nothing, or don’t worry about anything.

Secondly, pray about everything! But it is a particular type of prayer – supplication.  Supplication is prayer where you ask for specific things.  This is expanded upon when he says to make your requests known to God.

Now that has significance. You are not fulfilling this verse if you’re just complaining to God and rehearsing all the circumstances that are giving you anxiety. You haven’t made a request!  What is it you want to happen? Be specific!  If you have bills and not enough money to pay them, you want provision and abundance (more than enough)! If you have health issues, you want healing!  If you have decisions to make and you don’t know what to do, you want wisdom!

And do not get into the “if it by Thy will” trap. We may think praying that way sounds like being humble, but it’s just unbelief.  Every one of those examples I gave has promises of God to cover them and to tell us that it is His will. Find them! Quote them! God doesn’t need a reminder of His promises, but you do.

And thirdly, we are admonished to offer these requests with thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving for what? That the Lord hears us and answers!  That is a big part of casting your cares on the Lord.  You begin thanking Him for the solution at the time you make the request. And you keep thanking Him for the answer from that point onward. It takes faith on our part.

What is the result of doing these things? The supernatural peace of God will come. It passes or is beyond understanding, because the circumstances haven’t changed yet – but you have peace about it.  And that peace will guard and protect your heart and mind from further anxiety.

That is the immediate result. The subsequent, following result, is that He answers your prayers and takes care of the situations you were praying about.

Submit and Resist

James 4:6-7 ⁶ But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

So grace is one of the things we receive from God when we are humble.  A whole article could be written about what grace is. The most common definition is that it is God’s unmerited (i.e. you don’t deserve it) favor. People concentrate on the unmerited part, but it is God’s favor – His willingness to use His power on our behalf.

Hebrews 4:16 ¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

God sits on a throne, but for the believer in Jesus Christ it is not a great white throne of judgment like in Revelation 20, but a throne of grace. We can come boldly to it and Him, because we have a place and belong there.  We come to receive and obtain mercy.  If grace is getting what we don’t deserve, mercy is not getting what we do deserve (i.e., judgment).  We almost come to find grace, which will help us when we have a need.

Verse 7 starts with the word therefore.  That means this verse is a result of, or an application of, that which comes before it. Therefore, since God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, we should submit to God.

We have seen that humility and submission are connected. 1 Peter 5:5 says that we are to submit to one another. Here, we are to submit to God.

Prideful people want to do things their own way.  Humble people seek to find out what God wants and submit to His ways.

Then in the same verse, it tells us to resist the devil. God resists the proud, we are to resist the devil. To oppose him.

Now Christians have a shortsighted view of what it means to resist the devil.  We all understand that we are to resist his temptations to sin.

But John 10:10 says that the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy.  We should be resisting – taking a stand against – that also, because they are the works of the devil.  We have to distinguish between the works of God and the works of the devil.

Many Christians make the mistake that Job did, in trying to be humble and submit to God:

Job 2:10 ¹⁰ But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job’s heart was in the right place (at least in the beginning), but he was operating under a misconception. He believed that all those horrible things that happened to him and his family were God doing it. But we have insight in the book of Job that he didn’t – it was actually the devil that brought about those things.

We are not submitting to God and resisting the devil when we submit to things that the devil is doing.  Remember, we are supposed to resist him.

How do you tell what is from God and what is from the devil?  Use John 10:10 as the guideline.  If it steals, kills, or destroys, it’s the devil. If it enhances and brings abundant life, it’s God.

For more on this see Tribulations On Trial