Humble Yourself

(Exodus 10:3) Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself (to be bowed down or afflicted) before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

How far remove from my life this passage of Scripture first appears to be.  Some wicked ruler in a distant land far removed in history, how can this connect to me?  In what ways am I living in pride of a lack of humility that hinders God’s will and God’s people?

It is one thing to be humbled by the Lord, another to have people humble us.  In this text, the call goes forth to humble yourself.  Voluntary humility is tricky.  Do we act in such a way as to appear humble?  Do we truly humble ourselves and then have great pride on our actions of humility?  Internal reflection will not serve us well here.   What we need is an outside source giving direction and guidance.  What we need is the Holy Spirit to convict us of both righteousness and sin. 

A great step in living humble is to allow yourself to be under the rule and guidance of the Holy Spirit.  The humility to “not be in charge” and not live “by your own opinions” is a step you take yourself.  You start the process of calling on the Spirit of the Lord for help.

One test of how we humble ourselves before God is our control of others.  The more we depend on self to make a way and get things done, the more we use control as a tool.  While we often justify our controlling of others by the end result of doing the will on the Lord, this is a form of deception.  What we need is enough of the Holy Spirit and His fruit to control ourselves.  Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit and partners with humility as we choose to live by following and not by self-promotion or agenda.

When the evil of one persons actions is confronted with the evil of manipulation and control, even in the context of “trying to get them to do right”, the methods of the Lord are pushed aside for worldly ways.  There is a way to overcome, but it involves a cross and suffering, two powers that are multiplied by humility.