Developing Humility Toward God

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, because He cares about you. Be sober! Be on the alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being experienced by your brothers in the world. - 1 Peter 5:6-9 HCSB

Notice His command: “Humble YOURSELVES”. Humility doesn’t “just happen.” God won’t zap us with it. He expects us to work at it. Obviously we can do nothing on our own, without the help of the Ruach’ ha Kodesh, but God will not give grace to the disobedient. Unless we actually try, we can expect nothing from our Master.[1] Allow me to share some steps that I have come across, some disciplines that can help develop this particular discipline in our walk.

First, of course we must get our self-worth and self-evaluation from the only completely credible source – the Bible. And when others praise us for our gifts or achievements, we must give God the credit for granting us both the gifts and the requisite time and opportunities to develop them.

When we are asking El Shaddai for something, we must make sure that we acknowledge what He was already provided for us and be sure to admit that we don’t actually deserve whatever grace He deigns grant us.[2] Whenever we experience legitimate pleasure, no matter the form it takes, we make sure that we include God in our experience. We consciously and deliberately thank Him. Doing so out loud would be nice!

We need to learn to be content. We must accept the role, place and resources that Adonai has given us and try to develop what we have to the best of our abilities for His glory. Another great suggestion is to memorize Psalm 41:4 and quote it often to the Lord.

We shouldn’t overly plan our lives but instead allow room for God to work. We should prefer His guidance to our PDAs! We should consider every setback a wonderful opportunity to develop humility. Suffering is a great (if unpopular) way to build patience, contentment and faith in our lives.[3]

Humility can also be developed through the use of ritual. Humility comes from measuring ourselves against the infinite and eternal Creator. Those who forget Adonai are those who grow proud because they think they are the god of their universe. So we should do whatever we can to maintain an ongoing awareness of the presence of God.[4]

We can dedicate portions of time to pause and focus on God; not just His many good gifts but God Himself in all His infinite traits. We should schedule regular times of fasting and prayer into our lives. We should even set aside periods when we can focus on God for hours at a time. Fasting (in Hebrew tsum or tzom) is more than simply not eating. It should be done with kavanah[5] which is intense concentration or devotion. It is a state of mind requisite for prayer or meditation. It can be also used for the frame of mind one should possess while performing a mitzvah which (by the way) is another great way to develop humility. Adonaists observe festivals like Passover which acknowledges the cost of God’s provision or Yom Kippur which is a day dedicated to fasting and confession of sin.

We can build rituals into our lives such as praying out loud as we travel, or providing small tokens like mezuzahs or plaques to remind us of Whose invisible presence we are in.

[1] Matthew 25:14-30
[2] Genesis 18:7
[3] James 1:2-4
[4] Psalm 16:8
[5] Kah-vah-NAH