Humility!

Humility!

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 1 Peter 5:6 KJV

Being a leader means being entrusted with responsibility. It means that there is a recognition of a particular kind of grace for administration or leading people. The amazing thing also is that it does not have to be exercised over thousands of people; it can be over a team of 2 people, or even in the family set up, or in an association of people of different cultures, traditions or backgrounds. From God's perspective, it is not what is visible, such as who you lead that matters first, but who you are on the inside, and that is the focus of today's extract. 

Man celebrates that which he can see; God focuses his attention on that which is hidden away from public view. Man applauds that which he is able to define according to his taste and human preferences; God also applauds that which he has also defined according to his standard. The issue then will be: whose view drives my pursuits and priorities? Whose view is my passion? Am I living for the applause of men or the applause of heaven? Am I all about what people would say, or have I weaned myself completely off people's expectations and opinions? This is quite important, when you consider the eternal consequences of whatever choice is made. 

And I note the responsibility to humble myself is mine, not God's. If God has to do it, it means I have messed up. I must keep in front of me at all times the need to stay humble. No achievement, recognition or ability is worth losing God's favour over. I am told to humble myself under God's mighty hand because that hand is limitless in what it can do and achieve. Man can only lift you as high as his own arms can carry you, but there is a God who can lift you beyond the expectations and limitations of man. It is this same God also that can bring a man low to the ground, stripping him of all honour and respect, so that the man can learn that God is the ultimate power. Ask Nebuchadnezzar, who was stripped of all reason and made to eat grass like an animal for 7 times or years. Interestingly, the kingdom was preserved for Nebuchadnezzar until he learnt his lesson to fear the God of heaven. It is that same hand that I must fear, and I must live my life in the light of that fear. 

It is not a fear that cripples, but a fear that preserves a life from sin. It is a fear of offending God, leading to a heart that loves God and always wants to please him. In every relationship that works, particularly when there is a superior authority involved, there must be the right mix of awe and love. The superior authority is the One who will lift up the lesser authority. When the time is right, as long as I live right, the superior authority knows how best to lift me up. It does not have to happen the way I envisioned it; as long as God is involved, the way and manner he will lift me up is left to him. 

I just have to trust his wisdom, as well as his grace and timing. He is never late, and he is never wrong. When he does the lifting, the whole world knows that this is God's doing, and when it is I trying to do the lifting, it will be clear to me as well as the world that this won't work and won't last. Let God do the heavy lifting; he has been doing it since before creation and he will continue to do so because he is the God of all the earth. I am safe in his hands, and I am better off trusting that he knows what he is doing. God's time of favour is here.