Who here likes change? Okay, who here really likes change that comes from being humbled? Hmmm, not as many hands up and cries of “Hallelujah”.
Though everyone would say that they love change and that it is so good for you, especially when directed by God, it is not an easy path to travel. Just look at the countless examples in the Bible of when people were in their comfort zones and all of a sudden, God brought about a humbling change that guided their lives onto a complete new path.
Why this change? One possible reason might be pride, as expressed in Proverbs 13:10, because pride brings struggle while humility brings wisdom: “By pride comes nothing but strife, But with the well-advised is wisdom” (NKJV). Pride causes us to be set in our ways, and pay the consequences for it later, but being well-advised (humbled) allows wisdom to become a new viewpoint to us.
One of the best representations of humility is Jonah, who denied God’s request to go to the wicked city of Nineveh and encourage them to repent of their ways. Jonah’s reasoning was that Nineveh was a despicable place where the Lord wasn’t received well, and it would be beneath him to go over there and waste his time proclaiming the gospel to them.
In short version of the biblical story, Jonah tried to escape from God in a boat, which was taken up in a storm until Jonah told the crew to throw him overboard--he was responsible for this disaster. As you recall, then, Jonah was swallowed up by a big fish and stayed in his belly until the Lord felt the humility of Jonah come about to do His bidding in Nineveh. Jonah was thrown up from the fish, went to preach in Nineveh, and led several people to God. However, as we read in the end, Jonah was still upset about Nineveh and argued with God on whether it was the right decision.
This story represents our (sometimes) dislike toward being humbled by God, as it is the recognition that we have become prideful in some aspect in life and forgotten who truly brought our successes and provisions to us.
Jonah was probably a recognized leader of faith within his community and, just like us, felt he was a good, faithful follower of God without having been confronted about any mistakes from the past. He probably even looked over to Nineveh and said, as we so commonly do, “Well, we are nothing like those people in Nineveh, for they do everything wrong under the sun.”
We seem to forget that we were all sinners before Christ intervened in our lives, lost in our sin and not knowing what way to go. Even though Jonah had a strong relationship with the Lord, he still struggled with the flesh like those in Nineveh did, and it hurt God just as much when Jonah sinned as when the people of Nineveh sinned.
So, even though Jonah had this amazing experience of seeing God chase after him and rescue him from the belly of a fish--not to mention witnessing a heathen city turn immediately to God--his being upset seems shocking to us.
It’s because Jonah suffered from the same thing we all suffer from, which is not realizing the real benefits of being humbled by God. It is so much easier to stay in our lofty towers of faith and judge others who have made countless mistakes, deeming them “unfit” for God’s blessings and glories like we are.
However, we forget, as Jonah did that at one point, that we were in that same position. We were in the same way as God described Nineveh in the last verse of Jonah: “And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock” (Jonah 4:11, NKJV).
Though we don’t know what Jonah’s answer was to this statement, we can attest we know what he was probably thinking: touché, God, touché. We have all been in that position, being blinded by pride to think our ways are right and that everyone else is wrong; hence not knowing our left from our right.
In God’s kindness and grace to us, He humbles us to remind us that all of His children are in need of His constant love, direction, and discipline. We make more mistakes than right choices and in the times we do get it right, we need to help those around us who are still trying to rectify bad choices.
We don’t like being humbled by God because it brings us back to the starting sentiment of this article, because we don’t like change and especially if it is initiated by someone other than ourselves. Christians can be notorious as well for not liking change, such as having to sacrifice a night of the week for a Bible study or not wanting to share with non-believing family members and friends why they should believe in Jesus, or (dare I say it) tithing.
There is also the feeling of the unknown in humility: How will we be humbled? Will it be something devastating or something we have experienced before? Will our way of life now be so greatly affected that we won’t ever come back to it again?
Yet, as in the case of Jonah, there would have been a far more disastrous outcome if he hadn’t gone to Nineveh and preached about God to the lost people of the city. He would have been responsible for their souls never being saved, awakened, and made alive again through our heavenly Father.
That is how we should view humility when it comes knocking at our door, as it is paving the ways for a far greater outcome, a far greater blessing, to come into our lives that might change our lives completely but always for the better.
Being humbled by God is not fun, but it is the realization that when you are humbled, you tend to open your eyes to what God wants to show you, how He wants you to help others and spread His word, that pride tends to keep us deaf and blind to on a regular basis. We can also see when we have let other aspects of life become idols ahead of God, such as our money, our family, our jobs, and our physical needs, and what we need to do to break ourselves of this idol-worshipping pattern.
So, being humbled may not cause you to shoot your hand up high and proclaim “Amen” when someone asks if you like change, but it can make you smile on times when you were humbled and what blessings came forth from that moment you never imagined happening.
Southwest Orlando Bulletin
He is a cross pendant.
He is engraved with a unique Number.
He will mail it out from Jerusalem.
He will be sent to your Side.
Emmanuel
Bible Verses About Welcoming ImmigrantsEmbracing the StrangerAs we journey through life, we often encounter individuals who are not of our nationality......
Who We AreWhat We EelieveWhat We Do
2025 by lntellectual Reserve,Inc All rights reserved.
