Humble Yourselves

Sometimes we have to regroup ourselves to reconnect with God’s purpose.  That we humble ourselves to God.  If we don’t, we allow ourselves or the world to start to define humility and our disobedience will begin to grow.  Humility means an absence of pride.  We aren’t to say that we know better than God, that is prideful.  But we are can also be prideful by saying that we don’t want God to see our brokenness.

God resists the proud.  And we are to humble ourselves to remove pride.  We are not called to be independent Christians, able to figure things out on our own.  We are called to be humble and God will lift us up.  Peter uses irony in this verse by describing us being both under God’s hand and in his hand.  We must first surrender to God’s authority.  It is then that God will protect and shield us from the enemy.  This can also be seen in where we submit to God and the devil will flee.

After we submit in humility, we are then called to cast our cares on him.  Cast meaning that we throw as far as possible.  But we have trouble with this.  Have you ever gone back and let that burden worry you or you pick back up that care?  Why would we do that?  It means that we for some reason think that God can’t help or handle what we have.  That we HAVE to somehow carry that burden.  But God wants us to give up those notions.

Peter warns that if we begin to drift away from God, we are moving towards the enemy.  It is either one or the other.  Satan is prowling, always looking for us to give up space or leave open a door.  Maybe it doesn’t mean he devours us, but we give him a chance to devour someone through us.  Sobering thought, huh?

But we are called to resist the enemy.  We stand firm in the faith in Jesus, and Satan has no options!  He will lie and confront, but we will still stand in faith.  Satan will lie about three things.  First he will lie about the Father.  “Did God really say…?”  Next he will lie about us.  “Can you ever be good enough?”  Finally he will lie about himself, and that he has a truth as good as God.

We are to humble before God, trust in God’s protection, resist the enemy, stand in the faith, and then know that we are not alone and Christians are together in the journey.