The lowdown on humility

"Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord

and He will lift you up"

James 4:10

What does that verse mean to you?  I love it, because of the dichotomy of it: lower yourself and you will be lifted up.  It's got that wonderful "God's wisdom is man's foolishness" aspect to it. 

But I also love it because of the many meanings of the word "humble".  It means all of the following ~ {and maybe even more, if you choose to adjust the wording slightly} :

• to be modest, or consider oneself of low importance
• of low social or political rank
• without pretension or grandeur
• to lower someone in dignity or importance
• to decisively defeat someone, particularly someone previously thought superior
• to accept humiliation
• to lower one's own pride or rank

the word comes from the Latin humilis: "low, lowly" and humus: "ground"

So with all of that being said, what does this verse mean to you?

I think, when I was younger, I thought it was just about not being proud.  Be modest, and then God will exalt you. 

But then I came to a point where the emphasis in the verse seemed to be on the word "yourself".  That you have to bring yourself down, before He would bring you up.  Not just being humble in exaltation, like a celebrity who stays grounded.  Or not just staying level while being exalted, but actually lowering oneself.  I think this understanding of the verse came to me about the same time that I realized the origin of the word ~ low and ground.  It paints a picture of submissiveness; of bowing before the greater knowledge and wisdom of God; of realizing I have nothing ~ nothing ~ on which to base my pride in myself.  Because anything in me that's worthy of being proud of, is not me.  It's Him in me. 

But recently I had a new thought.  All of a sudden the verse took on another nuance.  It still includes the idea of my being willing.  That's key to understanding "humble yourself".  But this concept also includes His involvement, but to a greater extent.  It's the idea of not just humbling myself and then enjoying the spiritual exaltation that follows, but of allowing Him to humble me.  That's submission.  Humbling myself not just to a level that I choose, but to His wisdom.

It's sort of like when a house needs a major remodel.  First, they might have to destroy much of it.  Like pulling down drywall, or taking off the roof, or pulling up the flooring.  There has to be demolition before there can be renovation.

So what might that be?  What sort of humbling might I be agreeing to?  Hard to say.  That's the scary part.  The mind boggles at the possibilities.  And the heart quakes.

Would you ~ will you ~ allow yourself to be lowered... hurt... wounded... so that you can be lifted up?

He did it for you.

"What is man, that You should exalt him,

that You should set Your heart on him?"

Job 7:17