Articles
When God Humbles Me
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Those of high stature will be hewn down, and the haughty will be humbled. (Isa. 10:33)
So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD. (Deut. 8:3)
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When bad things happen in our life, we tend to blame God. Is He punishing us? Is this messed-up world out of His control? Or does He even care?
The correct answer is: None of the above. He is trying to teach us humility.
When the Assyrians threatened Jerusalem with destruction, Isaiah assured his people that God would not allow it to happen. The haughty Assyrians would be humbled by a God who knew how to put the proud in their place.
The Israelites fleeing their bondage in Egypt were not a conquering army, but a rag-tag mob of slave families who had nothing of which to boast. The suffering to which God exposed them was not to punish them, but to instill a deeper dependence upon Him. There was more to life than bread and water, and the Israelites needed to learn the central role that God played in their lives. They needed to be humbled, and their wilderness experience was God's tool for accomplishing that purpose.
Whether powerful Assyrians or impoverished Israelites, all these people were subject to same the bad attitudes and defective assumptions to which humans are prone. They all needed to be humbled, one way or another.
We need to be humbled, too. There is more pride in our hearts than we care to admit. The more accomplished we are, the more likely we are to feel a little smug about our talents and achievements. The more needy we are, the more we tend to feel a sense of entitlement or revenge. Whatever our station in life, it's this private conceit that "I know what's best for me" lurking just below the surface that needs to be shaken up. We don't know what's best for ourselves, and God has a variety of ways to remind us.
When I encounter the fires of affliction, I must recognize that God has not forgotten me; and He certainly isn't trying to destroy me. He is humbling me. He is trying to help me recognize my dependence on Him in all things, even to the gates of death itself.
When God humbles me, it's because I need to be humbled. Will I gain humility from the experience? Or lash out in bitter anger?
--David
