The Healing Power of Humility

Humility can bring about healing in our own lives, our marriages, and our Nation. Here, I will address the importance of humility, examples of humility, commands concerning humility, and the most important requirement of humility for us all.

James 4:10
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
II Chronicles 7:14
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Marge and Mark

Marge and Mark were on opposite sides of the hedge, feeling torn down

Marge and Mark were next door neighbors. Marge was in her back yard. Mark was in his. Their yards were separated by a tall hedge and they could not see one another. Marge, to herself, said, “I can’t do anything right! He never stands up for me. I’m always taken for granted. He doesn’t notice when I try to look good for him. He is SO arrogant. He never apologizes for anything! He never supports me when the children put me down.”

Imagine if Marge had felt appreciation or gratitude from her husband.  How would her attitude be different?  Instead of the frustration she was feeling, maybe she would have felt grateful for a husband who supported her and showed his love.  Was her husband being arrogant, or just not paying attention?  Either way, it’s obvious there was work to be done.  Marge needed the support of her husband, and some

encouragement when she made extra effort to fix herself up.  Dealing with the children alone was draining, and feeling like she had no one to back her up or stick up for her when they put her down was very hurtful.  The whole home would have run more smoothly if Marge’s husband would have shown humility and stepped outside of himself for a few minutes and looked at things from Marge’s perspective.  I’m sure she would have had feelings of admiration for her husband as opposed to the resentment her thoughts showed.  She was working hard and did not feel the validation she needed.

Similarly, Mark was thinking to himself, “She doesn’t seem to think I know anything! I’m always taken for granted. She never says anything good about me in public. She never apologizes for anything! She never stands up for me when the children push against me. It would be nice to hear ‘thank you’ once in a while.”

Mark’s wife seemed wrapped up in her own world, her own self.  Mark worked hard, both at his job and at home.  He was skilled at many things, and knew how to do a lot.  His wife never seemed to appreciate that.  He felt beaten down and defeated.  If his wife had taken the time to step out of herself and look at things through Mark’s eyes, she may have seen what her pride had done.  Maybe she would have realized that he was a good provider, a good husband, and a good father.  Maybe her heart would have been softened, and she would have apologized for how she had treated him, and how she had not taken his feelings into consideration.  It could have been the beginning of a new commitment for her to be more appreciative of Mark, and to make sure to thank him for the things he did. 

The Importance of Humility

A man once said, “There’s one thing that I’m better at than anyone else: being humble.”

One thing I'm better at: I'm more humble than others

Pride Brings Pain

Proverbs 21:9
It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

In both Marge’s and Mark’s houses, it seems there were people who were lifted up with pride.

Proverbs 21:19
It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.
Proverbs 25:24
It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house.

Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

There was a time when God commanded King Saul to take his army and totally and completely destroy the Amalekites. They were to take no prizes, trophies, or plunder. They were even commanded to kill all the livestock. This was to prevent anything from the pagan land from influencing His people.

Instead, they took some of the spoils. When Samuel returned, King Saul claimed to have done what was commanded. Samuel questioned him. What is the bleating of sheep and goats that I hear. King Saul continued in his lies, indicating that he kept the animals for sacrifice.

Samuel responded:

I Samuel 15:17 -19
So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel?
18 Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’
19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”

So, you can see that pride brings pain in our lives. In the case of our marriages, our own pride is a hindrance to helping our spouses to experience that feeling of value they deserve.

However, when we humble ourselves and get our eyes on others, we get into a better position to lift them up.

Humility Brings Joy

1 Peter 5:5-7
Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.


So, if you have cares, you can bring them to God. All you have to do is humble yourself under His mighty hand. Not only will you feel better, but you, yourself, will be lifted up in due time. Your humility will help you lift up your husband or wife, but it will also place you where God will eventually lift you up too.


II Chronicles 7:14
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.


Humility brings joy. It brings healing. Healing for our land, for our marriages, and for our lives.

John 9:33
33.Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?”
34 But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.
35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”
36 Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them,
37 “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”


I have an entire message on just this, called the Secret of Greatness. It can be summed up in just one sentence: The secret of greatness is humble service without thought of reward. That is what Jesus was talking about here.

 Marge and Mark are good examples of what can happen if we don’t practice humility in our own lives.  Resentment and hurt feelings arise.  That’s just from the human standpoint.  Relationships between one another are an important part of life.  We want to go through life with people who appreciate and respect us, and we need to do the same. 

Imagine if we all showed one another the grace that God shows us.  How much more kind would we be to the cashier who made a mistake in giving us our change, or the driver who cuts us off in traffic?  Imagine how our brothers and sisters in Christ could be lifted up and encouraged if we addressed them with humility and grace and love?  If the humility is something we are the recipient of, imagine how encouraging that would be, and how much more joy and contentment we would feel in our lives.  Pride can cause so many problems. Refusing to be humble can cause hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and sometimes much worse.  The biggest reason to be humble, though, is because God commands it!

Examples of Humility

Moses

Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.

Numbers 12:3  
Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.
Moses was leading millions of people. God used him to part the Red Sea, and all the children of Israel went across on dry ground.

Something I want you to understand is that humility does not mean being a doormat. We must humble ourselves in the sight of God. We can fall down before God in our feelings of unworthiness. We should be humble in our dealings with others. But humility does not equal weakness. Moses was very strong. In fact, he even had a problem with anger. His anger caused him to miss seeing the Promised Land when he struck a rock instead of speaking to it as God had commanded.

Jesus

Humility: the greatest example was Jesus

Of course, the greatest example of humlity is Jesus. He was King of the Universe, yet He humbled Himself, was born as a baby, and raised by humans. He knew hunger, thirst, criticism, and intense pain on the cross. He had the power of Heaven at his disposal and He chose humility. Humility is strength and power under control.

Luke 2:51
And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

Joseph and Mary had lost Jesus. Imagine what it must have felt like–to have been given the responsibility to care for God’s only begotten son, and the lost Him!

When they found Him, He was in the temple talking with the doctors of the Law.

When they questioned Him, He told them that He must be about His Father’s business. Still, he went with them and was subject unto them. Here is the ruler of the universe deciding to be subject to human beings.

Notice He was subject to them even though He knew more than they did.

Not only that, He was subject to them even though they were sinful and He was not.

I John 3:16
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Jesus came to this earth and humbled himself. When they came to crucify Him, He allowed it to happen.

If the strong personalities of Moses and Jesus could humble them selves, surely we could temper our own selves.

Commands Concerning Humility

Ephesians 5:32-33
32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

We need to value one another, and make one another feel valued. You are valuable to God. So much so that He sent His son, who was willing to take your sin upon Himself. God values you so much, he offers you the gift of eternity in Heaven. You are that valuable!

Scripture tells us to not grieve the Holy Spirit. We’re told that when we receive Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit. We also receive the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness*, self-control. Against such there is no law.
*Gentleness is the same as meekness or humility.

When we looked at the translations that said that Moses was the meekest man on the earth, we saw that alternate translations said the more gentle than others, and further that he was more humble than others. We see the synonyms: meekness, gentleness, and humility. Therefore, humility is a part of the fruit of the spirit.

How can we learn to be more humble?  The Bible is the perfect place to start.  Use a concordance or search engine and find scripture verses about humility.  Write them in a notebook and keep them where you have your daily devotional.  Read the verses daily.  Commit them to memory.  Another way is to look up…from the phone or computer, from the television, the book, paper, or anything else that takes your focus away from others.  Look for needs around you.  Look for the person who is hurting.  Pay attention to words and actions.  Not everyone who needs help will tell you.  Pray and ask for wisdom and discernment in seeing people’s needs.  Ask for guidance in how you can help.  Be open to correction and direction.  Remember that being humble is a fruit of the Spirit, a gift from God when we accept Jesus as Savior.

The Most Important Requirement of Humility for All of Us

Kneeling at the cross, remembering that Jesus humble himself and gave his life for us

We have to humble ourselves and admit that we have sinned in order to receive Christ. God requires it. If you are going to be saved, you can’t say, “I don’t need to be saved. I’ve done all these wonderful things. I’m better than that person over there” The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.

Humbling yourself before God is the only way to get to Heaven. Why would God have sent His son, and why did Jesus lay down his life, if there were another way? Even Jesus Himself prayed to His Father, if there were any other way, to let the cup “pass from” Him.

The first step to salvation is to humble yourself before God. Acknowledge your sin, that you’ve gone your own way, and that you have pushed against God. Give yourself to Him, and He will fill you with His Spirit, and you will receive the Fruit of the Spirit.

Pride stands in the way of us lifting up our husband or wife. Humility will remove that barrier.

Humility then will heal our land, our marriages, and our lives.

If you enjoyed this marriage tip, you might like this one that talks about the power of overcoming.

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