Return of the Jedi

7.26.2010

1 Peter 5:6 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, ESV

To humble oneself, is to calmly and fearlessly entrust control to someone else. We seem so afraid of giving control to God for fear that He’s going to make us do something we don’t want to do. That is the terror of our fallenness.

Peter's case for humility says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble; God gives His divine affection and favor to those who trust Him but makes the way difficult for those who don’t. But we must remember that there is no such thing as a senseless act of kindness nor is there humility without reason because Peter says, ‘…so that at the proper time He may exalt you…’ Humility is not mindless – it has an end in sight; the exaltation of God on those who faithfully, and willingly, submit to His rule and authority; those who will be rewarded with exaltation, and will then understand how to dispense God’s rule and authority. Like the fictional Star Wars’ Jedi that were brought up under discipline and devotion in order to be entrusted with leadership, people who humble themselves under God’s mighty hand are those who will be trained by discipline and devotion and then able to lead accordingly in the new heavenly era.

Humility requires devotion and discipline. Humility requires loving God regardless of cost, and unswerving allegiance to His cause. And to the one who does…exaltation at the proper time. O, let me be in that number, when the saints go marching in…

Father in Heaven,

You have asked for every single area of my life that You may rule and reign therein. May I humble myself under Your mighty hand entrusting all I am and have to You that at the proper time I will be – not be set free from humility – exalted for having given You my all. Amen.