Humility

Psalm 51:17
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”

Humility

Humility-CS-Lewis1I’ve been thinking on the subject of humility & the way it is perceived. Often I think that I must put on humility like a garment, yet I also think that it is something that happens to me as I ponder God & who He is. Real humility can be understood when we are studying & contemplating who God is.  We can never fully understand God or His ways, and that is why He is God, but unless we desire to learn as much about Him as possible we will never truly understand what it means to be humble.  
       Spurgeon wrote this when speaking about God, “Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnifies the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in His immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated. I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead”  
     God is so vast and unfathomable that when we take the time to ponder Him we cannot help but feel a deep and overwhelming sense of lowliness.  We are brought low when we come to recognize our position in relation to Him; filthy sinners & finite beings with finite minds.   
      Andrew Murray penned these words on the subject, “Humility is simply man’s acknowledging the truth of his position as man and yielding to God his place.”  Jim Berg writes “Humility is the frame of mind a man possesses who is fully aware of his nothingness apart from God and of his sinfulness that would eternally separate him from God were not God willing to rescue him.”
      This is what pleases God! “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”- Psalm 51:17
     Getting a better understanding of God is helping me to get a proper view of myself and that is teaching me humility.

(This week’s SALT submission comes from Daniel Caple of Christ Community Church)