"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you."
1 Peter 5:6-7
Part 1
“Humble yourselves, therefore.”
This is true heartfelt humility, not the phoniness that is often used to impress people. And we need to understand that this is a decision we make, a purposeful change of heart, a directional change, leading to different actions than how we lived before. This life change can only happen if we have a relationship with God through His Son.
“Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4).
This word humble in the Greek New Testament used in this sentence means,
“to lower, depress
of one’s soul bring down one’s pride
to have a modest opinion of one’s self
to behave in an unassuming manner
devoid of all haughtiness”[1] (Thayer).
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up”.
Believers, do our lives reflect our obedience to this command?
“Under the mighty hand of God.”
Please note that our humility is focused on God. And it is under His mighty hand that we humble ourselves. Our motivation to humble ourselves does not come from others, or even our hearts, but as we desire to be obedient to God.
This phrase, “mighty hand of God” is nowhere else in the New Testament. But Luke gives us an idea of what it means.
“He hath shewed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree” (Luke 1:51-52).
His hand is mighty, for He is the Almighty.
Surely this is a paradox in the Scriptures. The way down is the way up. Come back tomorrow and let us talk about this more.
Quote: “Learn to humble yourself, you are but earth and clay” (Thomas a Kempis).
[1] J.H. Thayer, Thayer’s Greek Definitions, the electronic version in eSword. Thayer’s words my formatting. His definition of tapeinothete (humble) is much longer, but this is the part that applies to the way humble is used in this verse. This verb is an imperative, clear command to “you all.”