Humility

Summary Scripture: Deuteronomy 8:2

And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

I want us to consider that God knows each and every one of us by name. He knew us before he made the world. Thus he knew our end before our beginning. Therefore, he knew how the sin Adam passed down to us would affect us as individuals.

I want us to keep in mind that God was looking into the nature of sin in each of our lives. His foreknowledge and foresight revealed our spiritual character after having been born into the captivity of sin. All the souls God had made were children of the devil. However, every soul had eternity in the heart; and every soul was subjected to hope. Therefore, the Father was able to see beforehand those who would respond to the call of the redemption, for many are called but few are chosen. Those who the Father saw would answer the call, were predetermined to be in Christ Jesus; and their names were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Nevertheless, even the chosen must suffer the trials and travail of this chastening world, in order to be counted worthy of the kingdom. The objective is to bring forth sons that are even as God is. The hostile environment called earth is our wilderness. All the souls here, should be trying to get back to that high and lofty place where we dwelled with the Father in eternity. But the only way to get there is through humility.

The Old Testament is our schoolmaster. Well, looking back at it we see the method and purpose of God for humility.

Deuteronomy 8:2

2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

The passage above is very clear as to why the Lord led Israel into the wilderness for forty years. It was to humble them. Now here, we are talking about slaves, who came out of bondage by the hand of the Lord, needing to be humbled. Therefore, the Lord chose to allow them to wander around in the wilderness for very specific reasons.

To humble thee:

In looking into this concept of God humbling someone, we see that the word itself means to abase self, to chasten, or to weaken. But it was also very interesting to note that it also means to submit self. God had given commandment for Israel to go into the promised land, immediately after they came out of Egypt. Yet they spied out the land and concluded their enemies were too many and too strong. Therefore, they disobeyed for the next two years. Suddenly they decided to go into this land of promise. This was an act of their self-will.

But God said no. In our servitude to God, there is no place for self. He forced them to remain in the wilderness another thirty-eight years, until the original unbelievers were fallen in the wilderness. Had God allowed them to go into the promised land after the first two years, it would have manifested that they were in control and not God. Many saints today are roaming around in the wilderness (this world), depriving themselves of the riches of the kingdom of God.

Though some might obtain the substance of this world, they are destitute of the riches of glory. Their self-will is fed by fleshy desires or need that is void of trust in God.

When your identity is defined by anything other than a son, and your trust is in anything other than God, he will surely humble you. He will weaken you of all the devices that support your image of yourself. His primary purpose is not to simply embarrass you before men, although that is surely a possibility, but to make you see that you are nothing, and can retain nothing without him. I have often said, many of us think too highly of ourselves. God will break this pride. He will chasten, afflict and abase. To resist that braking is stubbornness and rebellion which can only lead to eternal damnation. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. James 4:10

To prove thee:

When God purposes to humble an individual or his church, he has but one goal and that is to prove what is in the heart. It is to also reveal to principalities and powers in heavenly places, his manifold wisdom in begetting the sons of God. It must be proven that you will keep the commandments of God under any circumstances. This must be true in the face of want, lack or need. It must also be true in the face of offense, abuse, or persecution. God will set you up to experience any of these things that are necessary in proving what is in your heart.

This method and purpose has not changed in the New Covenant. Many of the saints of God are experiencing wilderness experiences and will continue in the wilderness until each of the above criteria are met.

Deuteronomy 8:3

And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

Now because we are eternal beings, let us look at the scripture above, from the position of eternity.

He humbled thee:

This is the response of the Lord to all who walk in a spirit of pride and vanity. Pride and vanity are not found in God. If we are to manifest that we are indeed sons, then it must not be found in us. This is not the character of our God nor the character of any of his sons. Pride and vanity are of the Lie. They do not represent Truth. They are the enemies of Love.

The purpose of the new creature is to reveal and declare the Father and the son. To do so, he must be exactly what the Father is. Pride is an exaltation of self. It is a usurping soul refusing to submit to the will and purpose of God. It must be stripped away. Otherwise the creature would perish. David said, I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Psalm 119:75

He suffered thee to hunger:

God knows how to bring us to that place where our sin becomes a vexation to our very own soul. In other words, he knows how to get us to a place where we hate the sin we live in. However, this is not a good place to be. It could be very painful and costly. It could even lead to the loss of your soul, if continuously resisted. He will bring us to complete and utter degradation that causes the creature to hunger for the eternal things he has abandoned. Our soul must hunger for righteousness and the glory we had with him in eternity, before we submit to the will of God for our life in this world.

He fed thee with manna:

During this time of chastening and humiliation, the Lord will feed you with truth. God will make sure that you not only hear the word, but that you are also put in situations that give space for that word to operate.

Which thou knewest not:

As sons of God, who were chosen to be in him before the foundations of the world; we had to be taught the mind and heart of the Father. We came from eternity to a fleshy Body, in an earthy environment. Now we need to know how we are expected to operate in this earthly place. Therefore, it is manifest that “the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” Romans 8:16.

1 Corinthians 2:11-16

11. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

12. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. This is true. But Paul lists some of these blessings in his writings to the church at Ephesus. He has caused us to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; Christ dwells in your hearts by faith; we are rooted and grounded in love. We are now able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of his love for us. We know that his love passes knowledge, and we are filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19.

13. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

We have the wisdom from above and are able to discern with righteous judgment, good and evil.

14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

We have received an eternal Spirit that has caused us to transcend this world. Therefore, we are able to live as our Lord did, holy and acceptable unto God.

15. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

16. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

We have the mind of Christ, therefore we are able to think like Christ and to walk in this world with the emotions of Christ. We have comprehended godliness. We know that we are of the Father and the Father is in us. It is our calling to walk as creatures who are not of this world, but eternal beings, fulfilling an eternal purpose.