Ten Commandments Part II - Humbling Ourselves

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James 4:10

As we close this series about the “other” commandments, the very important ones brought to us by James, I want to quickly bring back to mind the commands we’ve looked at thus far. They are:

· Submit & resist

· Come, wash, purify

· Cry out, mourn and weep

· Trading laughter and joy for mourning and sadness

Again, another thing to remember is that James wasn’t talking to unbelievers. NO! He was talking to believers, members of the early church; yes, Christians!

I like the way the Believer’s Bible Commentary addresses this verse. It states simply this, “If we honestly take our place in the dust of His feet, He will lift us up in due time.” Is that not a beautiful thought? To be a person after God’s heart we have to humble ourselves in His sight and keep ourselves pure from sin and make God our #1 priority. Will you give him your wholehearted allegiance?

A reminder from the author of the James study, Elizabeth George, is this:

Weeds, fences, and the old black bull. Watch out for the weeds of sin: pride, doubt, bitterness, envy, anger and half-heartedness. Keep the fences strong and high – against worldliness, lust, passion, and ungodly desires. And by all means, watch out for the old black bull, the devil himself – resist him firmly and take your stand against him.

I wanted to end this series with something that would enable us all to keep the commands of James in our minds, so I reached out to my friend Kathy Crouch, once again for a poem with which to close this week of devotions.

Ponder her words….

Dear Christian

Are you outwardly happy with material things?

Are you friends with the world and the joy that it brings?

Satan is waiting for drifting to start,

Resist his desire to capture your heart.

All of our conflicts and strife comes from pride.

We must humble ourselves and search deep down inside.

When you’re truly repentant and sorry for sin,

Be miserable and mourn as you forgive from within.

Unconditionally submit and remember your salvation,

Once this is done there’s complete restoration.

A command and a promise are given, it’s true,

Draw nearer to God; He’ll draw nearer to you.

Kathy M. Crouch