By Francis Frangipane
In the kingdom, there are no great men or women of God, just humble people whom God has chosen to use greatly. How do we know when we are humble? When God speaks, we tremble. God is looking for men and women who tremble at His word. Such people will find the Spirit of God resting on them; they will become a dwelling place for the Almighty.
The divine pursuit begins with the humbling of self. Fleshly desires, soulish fears, and human ambitions try to rule us. Thus, when true meekness emerges in our hearts, it silences the clamor of our fleshly minds. The voice of our fears and inadequacies becomes a whisper. To humble our earthly perspectives and opinions, we must relegate them to a lower priority; they become mere background noise as our focus turns increasingly toward God. No pretense prevails; we come humbling ourselves. We bow on our faces before the holy gaze of God. And in His light, we finally perceive the darkness of our souls.
Thus humility, at its root, starts with honesty. The humbled heart is truly and deeply acquainted with its need, and in the beginning the awareness of one's need becomes the voice of prayer. This confession, "I have sinned," puts us on the side of God concerning it. We agree with our Father that our behavior is wrong. Thus the process of healing begins during this moment of self-discovery. We are working with God to defeat sin in our lives, and in this process of humbling ourselves the Lord grants us peace, covering, and transforming grace.
Yet with humility we not only acknowledge our need but also take full responsibility for it. We offer no defense to God for our fallen condition. We've come not to explain ourselves but to be cleansed.
The Word says, "Humble yourselves." This means we are choosing it rather than God doing it for us.
Humble yourselves [with an attitude of repentance and insignificance] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up, He will give you purpose]. —James 4:10, AMP
There are two ways to enter meekness: humble ourselves or be led through the wilderness. Either path is designed to ultimately lead to a condition of our hearts that will allow us to hear God.
Most of us have gone through times when life's circumstances humbled us. When faced with a difficult situation, we may be humbled, but like a cork in water, we rise back up to the surface, our pride returning when the issue resolves. God doesn't want our lives filled with pride that dissipates during intermittent periods of shame due to external circumstances or even sometimes painful experiences. He wants us to be humble by choice, humble because we want to be like Jesus.
Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me. For I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matt. 11:28–29, MEV). If we want to know the essence of Jesus, we must recognize that He is meek and lowly of heart. He identifies with the lowly. Jesus Christ is humble by choice, by nature. If we will be shaped and conformed to His image, then we too must choose the way of humility and meekness.
The Pattern of Meekness
In this process of spiritual training, God desires to create within us the necessary attitudes that will shape us and condition us to experience the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. As we become humble of heart, this step will qualify and prepare us to reach a purity of heart that enables us to see God, have fellowship with Him, and interact spiritually with Him. Then, when He speaks, we will be ready to change, "for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight" (Phil. 2:13, AMPC).
God explained this process to the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:2–3 (NIV, emphasis added), where He says,
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
The purpose of the wilderness is not merely to adjust us to living in a place of oppression and scarcity; the purpose of the wilderness is to teach us that man does not live by bread alone. In other words, we don't live by our own efforts; the people of God live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
The goal of this stage of training, this development of the work of humility and meekness in us, is not to make us timid or fearful—it is to give us a humble spirit that can hear the voice of God and follow His leading. The sign of true humility is obedience, trying to live out every utterance, every whisper that comes from God's heart.
The successive stages of spiritual training—recognizing our need, coming through godly sorrow to deep repentance—bring us to true humility of heart and hearing the voice of God speaking to us. The process of God humbling us in the wilderness enables us to hear His voice and be genuinely led by Him.
The Israelites heard the audible voice of God speaking to them from Mount Horeb. The sound of His voice caused great fear in them, and they begged Moses: "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die" (Exod. 20:19, NIV). Fear is not an aspect of the process of humility that God is working in us in this third stage of training. If fear has awakened in your heart, like the Israelites', you might need more time in the wilderness. Fear or shyness might look like humility, but they are not. How do you know the difference? Fear trembles before men. Humility trembles before God. The process of meekness and humility will prepare you to hear and receive the word of God with joy and obedience.
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Adapted from Francis Frangipane's newest book, The Heart That Sees God available at www.arrowbookstore.com.