Tag: bible

The Wisdom of Humility—Part 1

Humility is rarely sought in the world’s culture. Unlike biblical wisdom, the world values pride, independence, and superiority. “Worldly values tend  to have the following characteristics in common: they’re always changing (subject to fashion); they’re generally self-centered, so they’re too narrow to provide a foundation for a broad, comprehensive, and meaningful outlook on life; and they lure their devotees into endless, fruitless striving (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3). [In addition, worldly values] provide no sense of certainty; the rewards they promise are neither lasting nor truly satisfying; [and] as a result, they create anxiety and internal tension.” (1) God’s Word cautions us against all this, encouraging us to be humble and wise. “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2) 

Biblical Humility

“Because humility involves the realistic appraisal of one’s place in relationship to others, it promotes a wise sense of the true order of things.” (2) In his book, “Humility,” Andrew Murray comments: “The highest lesson a believer has to learn is humility. Do you want to grow in holiness? Then remember: the road to holiness passes through humbling experiences. You could have intense consecration, fervent zeal, and deep experiences, but unless you receive God’s special dealings to humble you, you could grow prideful and self-important. Let’s never forget that the highest holiness is the deepest humility. And humility only comes if we give God permission to lead us through whatever discipline He requires to train us. He is our Faithful Lord…He watches over us with a jealous, loving care, to keep us from getting puffed up by our revelations of Him. If we start becoming proud or pompous, He shows us our evil and brings us experiences to deliver us from it. In trial and weakness and trouble, He seeks to bring us low, until we learn that His grace is enough for us and take pleasure in what makes and keeps us humble. His power working through weakness, His presence filling and satisfying our emptiness, becomes the secret of a humility that will never fail.” (3)

Proverbs on Humility 

“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes…” (Proverbs 6:16-17a)

“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.” (Proverbs 8:12-13)

“The Lord tears down the house of the proud but maintains the widow’s boundaries.” (Proverbs 15:25)

“The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.” (Proverbs 15:33)

“Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” (Proverbs 16:5)

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud.” (Proverbs 16:18-19)

“Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.” (Proverbs 18:12)

“Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin.” (Proverbs 21:4)

“‘Scoffer’ is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.” (Proverbs 21:24)

“The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.” (Proverbs 22:4)

“Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, 

 for it is better to be told, ‘Come up here,’ than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.” (Proverbs 25:6-7)

“With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone.” (25:15)

“Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” (Proverbs 26:12)

“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.” (Proverbs 27:1-2)

“A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.” (Proverbs 29:11)

“One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.” (Proverbs 29:23)

Additional Scripture:

“But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:8-12)

“One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.” (29:23)

“Whosoever humbles himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:4) 

“Now [Jesus] told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, ‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”’ (Luke 14:11)

Will we embrace God’s call to be humble by saturating our minds with Scripture, rather than worldly (even Super Bowl) fanaticism? “Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.” (Proverbs 4:7-8)

Notes:

  1. Focus on the Family, Influence of Worldly Values: Christian Versus Worldly Values, https://learn.alivetothrive.com/lesson/christian-versus-worldly-values/
  2. The Reformation Study Bible, Proverbs 11:2, Reformation Trust Publishing (Ligonier Ministries), Sanford, Fl., 2015.
  3. Murray, Andrew, Humility in Contemporary English, HeavenReigns.com, 2003.

February 6, 2023

Wisdom in a Broken World

Who doesn’t want wisdom? Perhaps you, like me, pray for wisdom when we have big decisions or choices to make. I seek God’s help to be willing to do what he desires and align my will with his. But, as I consider this, I realize that I’m demoting God’s wisdom to the status of what I’ll eat for lunch or which friend to call. Through a couple of weeks of meditating on godly wisdom, I see that it is so much more than that. It’s more than what to buy, what to do, or who to call. God’s wisdom is the basis on which he created the world and redeems his lost children. His wisdom is the source of creation, election, salvation, sanctification, and glorification; without God’s wisdom, nothing would exist. I am praying that by meditating on God’s wisdom in the Scriptures, we will enlarge, enjoy, and actively engage with it through Christ. So, 2025 will be devoted to studying Proverbs, the Old Testament Wisdom book primarily, while considering James and other specific passages devoted to wisdom. My pattern will be a little different than in years past. I started this devotion in 2017 and posted blogs daily. Then, I decided to give myself more time to study, so I began posting every other week. I will post on the second and fourth Thursdays, and the blog will be topical again—Biblical Wisdom. However, on this fourth Thursday, I will mainly present one significant passage with other Scripture references relating to the subject. I gathered related Scripture sometime around 2001-2003 when I chose to study Proverbs every day, with a topic for each month over those three years. By sharing the passages with you on the second Thursday, I hope you will study them with me, before I post my blog devoted to a few of them. I am grateful to God for his guidance and glad to think that you may be studying along with me. The best encouragement and help I have is the study of the passages I share with you, so perhaps we will become wiser together to live our lives more influenced by God’s Word than the world’s unreliable, shifting foolishness. Enjoy! 

Wisdom in Proverbs 

“Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: ‘How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.’” (1:20-23)

“Whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.” (1:33)

“[Make] your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech.” (2:2-12)

“Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” (3:7-8)

“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength. By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just; by me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly. I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me. Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver. I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries. The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man…Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.  For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. (Proverbs 8:12-31, 33-35) 

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” (11:2)

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” (12:15)

“By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom.” (13:10)

“Wisdom rests in the heart of a man of understanding, but it makes itself known even in the midst of fools.” (14:33)

“The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.” (15:33)

“The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.” (17:24)

“Whoever gets sense loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will discover good.” (19:8)

“Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge, for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.  That your trust may be in the Lord, I have made them known to you today, even to you.” (22:17-19)

“Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.” (28:26)

Other Passages on Wisdom

“Pay attention, O Job, listen to me; be silent, and I will speak. If you have any words, answer me; speak, for I desire to justify you. If not, listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.” (Job 33:31-33)

“The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.“ (Psalm 37:30)

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”  (Psalm 51:5-7)

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.“ (Psalm 119:10)

“Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.”  (Ecclesiastes 7:19)

January 9, 2025

While I intended to post yesday, 1-9, I just couldn’t sort out how to do it on my new iPad that refused to give me access to my app. I am not a fan of the Magic Keyboard, which has been anything but magical for me. Amazon returns, here I come.