Humble God

[H]e humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
(Philippians 2:8)

No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced,

but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.

Show me the right path, O LORD;

point out the road for me to follow.

Lead me by your truth and teach me,

for you are the God who saves me.

All day long I put my hope in you.

Remember, O LORD, your compassion and unfailing love,

which you have shown from long ages past.

Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth.

Remember me in the light of your unfailing love,

for you are merciful, O LORD.

The LORD is good and does what is right;

he shows the proper path to those who go astray.

He leads the humble in doing right,

teaching them his way.

The LORD leads with unfailing love and faithfulness

all who keep his covenant and obey his demands. (Psalm 25:3–10 NLT)

I wonder if you, like me, find the description of God being humble somewhat of an oxymoron. God is great, and therefore there is no need for him to be humble. If he tells of all his incredible feats, he’s not bragging but merely expressing truth. But God is humble. All through Scripture, the humility of God peaks through the pages.

In today’s Psalm, we are told that he guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way (25:9). It appears the humble walk in humility because God guides them in that way – he leads in humility. In the Matthew parable of the unmerciful servant, the master – who is clearly the God figure – “cancels all the debt of the servant and let him go” (Matthew 18:27). It’s almost a throwaway line, but to absorb another person’s debt and set them free is not only merciful, it is also an incredibly humble act; it is done without fanfare or attention and almost seems as if it is on the sly.

Such is the nature of our God!

I’ve found my mind wandering towards thinking about the humility of God – not necessarily the humiliation of Christ and his self-emptying described in Philippians 2, but the humility of God that I experience every day but am often unaware of.

I find that this humility is often experienced in how he answers my prayers. I recall two examples: In one case, I was organizing an event, and with less than a week to go, only one person was signed up. I had a speaker coming and food being offered and I was panicking, so I prayed some of those panic prayers – but nothing happened.

Over the course of the next couple days, I found myself thinking about the event but becoming less anxious, not uncaring just at peace. Later, I received notice that three others had signed up. The next morning, eight more. Later in the afternoon, another ten. On the day of the event, there were over thirty people.

Similarly, I was struggling with finding an appropriate ending for a sermon I was going to preach. Writing the sermon felt like wading through tar – every thought and sentence felt like a struggle. And when I got to the end, it felt like it just ended but had not really concluded.

I had been praying about it and searching and working hard, but nothing came. By Saturday, I had resolved myself to the fact the sermon wouldn’t be that good.

Strangely, in the early hours of Sunday morning, I found myself dreaming about my sermon and I was telling a parable that perfectly summarized my message and gave an appropriate appeal for response. When I got to the church, I wrote it down about an hour before I had to speak.

What I find interesting about both events is that even though in retrospect I can see God answered my prayers, had I not taken time to think about it, I almost would have missed the fact. It is as if God was trying to answer my prayers anonymously.

Have a look at your own prayer lists or think back to those concerns that had you so panicked a month ago, or a year ago. Has God answered? Yet, if you are like me, you often don’t pause to thank him because he is so unassuming, shy, humble.

The doubters and skeptics would have God boast of himself, perform a sign so grand and persuasive that no one could miss it or deny it. But that would go against his nature. In fact, the only way God gets recognized and boasted about is by his creation boasting about him – recognizing where he has been at work and “declaring his praise” (1 Peter 2:9).

I hope as you look back and see the humble ways in which God answered prayers you have long since stopped praying and thinking about, you will praise him, too.
 
 
Merv Budd is equipping evangelist on the Missional Initiatives Team.