“Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.” (Proverbs 18:12)
Is there any virtue more extolled in scripture than humility? Is there any vice more condemned than pride? Humility attracts God’s favor over one’s life; pride repels His involvement. His blessings abound to the humble; His hands are off the proud. Humility is the path to exaltation; pride leads to disgrace and destruction.
With such promise of good or evil before us, why wouldn’t we cherish every opportunity to become humble, and hate anything that stokes pride? Man’s desire for honor has him constantly gravitating toward the sin of pride. If he is to be kept from such an insidious vice, God must engineer all things to keep him humble.
Surely, it irks us to lack the glory that impresses men’s eyes. We would be strong and smart and successful. We would be great and greatly praised, not small and despised. We bemoan all in our nature and circumstance that brings us low, that speaks of our weakness, ignorance, and failure. What we fail to realize is the hand of God in these things. The thorn in our flesh is God given. Our lack is the key that unlocks His fullness. When we are weak, He can become our strength. When we are fools, He can become our wisdom. When we are base and despised, He can become our glory and our beauty.
Our outlook and “in-look” begins to shift when we come to the glorious revelation that whatever humbles us is ultimately good. No, God doesn’t hate us when He lets us be humbled. His chastening upon us is a token of His love, to bring us to grace and glory, to crown us with the honor that rightly comes when He is glorified in our life.
Would we be God’s workmanship, or the product of our own hands? God would be our Potter. We cannot make ourselves humble, nor excise pride from our heart. We are not called to impose a regimen upon ourselves designed to produce humility. God provides each of us with enough opportunities to embrace this chief virtue. May we have eyes to see what God has designed for our good.