Ezekiel 33-34 1 Peter 5

“Be humble under God’s powerful hand so he will lift you up when the right time comes. Give all your worries to him, because he cares about you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7 NCV)

Humility has been a problem for humanity since the beginning of time. Eve fell for the “you will be like God” line first, and mankind has fallen for variations of it down through the ages. You’d think that Christians would understand this more than most people because when people encounter God they should realize their shortcomings. Still, Peter had to remind his readers to be humble. Part of the expression of that humility is recognizing that we can’t solve all of our problems and that’s why we give our worries to Him. He cares about us and will take care of our problems.

We joke about humility. We let people know that if they were as humble as we were, they’d be OK. Or, we talk about the guy who was recognized for his humility with a button that proclaimed how humble he was, only to get it taken away because he wore it. The jokes reveal how we feel about humility. We know that the biggest problem with humility is that when we seek to gain it, we never will. As soon as we realize that we’re humble, we no longer are. The key to gaining humility is that instead of seeking that quality, we should seek God. If we seek His help and guidance in all situations, if we give our worries to Him instead of trying to do things ourselves, we’ll be exhibiting our humility without realizing that we have it. True humility comes when we recognize who we are in relationship to God and live for Him every day in that knowledge.

Lord, teach me to depend on You in all areas of my life. Let me live in such a state of humility that I don’t realize that quality in my life and that others will want to imitate me as I imitate You.

Scripture taken from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.