Rev J B Jardine
The advantages of being humble. À Brakel, in The Christian’s Reasonable Service gives ten reasons why humility is advantageous: “(1) God delights in the humble: ‘Who remembered us in our low estate’ (Ps 136:23); (2) God causes them to rejoice: ‘I . . . revive the spirit of the humble’ (Is 57:15); (3) God’s spiritual benefits are for them: ‘God . . . giveth grace to the humble’ (1 Pet 5:5); (4) God keeps them: ‘He shall save the humble person’ (Job 22:29); (5) God gives them temporal blessings: ‘By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life’ (Prov 22:4); (6) God comforts the humble: ‘God, that comforteth those that are cast down’ (2 Cor 7:6); (7) God exalts the humble: ‘He . . . exalted them of low degree’ (Lk 1:52); (8) The humble person enjoys peace: ‘Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted’ (Jas 1:9); (9) A humble person is wise: ‘With the lowly is wisdom’ (Prov 11:2); (10) A humble person has courage, as he neither seeks honour or fears shame.”2
How to learn humility. We need to learn how to be humble. It must be
1This is the final section of a paper given at the Youth Conference in 2023.
2Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, Soli Deo Gloria, vol 4, p 76 (slightly edited).
both desired and sought after. There are three main areas of life which we can call “books” from which we can learn humility:
First, the book of sin. Examine yourself in the light of your falling into sin. If you learn by experience that you are polluted, impure, wicked and abominable in your own heart, you will have no reason to complain against God for any affliction, or persecution. You will see yourself to be more despicable than others hold you to be. You will realise that you are unworthy of receiving the least mercy from God or the least favour from men. We see from Psalm 51 that this is how David learned to be humble.
Second, the book of crosses. No matter how bitter and distasteful the cross of suffering is, it teaches humility if used properly. We will learn how disagreeable, unbelieving and impatient we are in our pride. We will be instructed about the righteousness and sovereignty of God toward His creatures in punishing sin.
The crosses remove pride of heart, subduing it and making it pliable. This is especially true if it is a long-lasting cross which we cannot escape from or find comfort from in other things. David speaks positively of chastisement: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes. . . . I know, O Lord, that Thy judgements are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me” (Ps 119:71,75). Remember Paul’s thorn in the flesh, “Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure” (2 Cor 12:7). We will become humble by submitting ourselves to the rod of chastisement and to God, who has appointed it.
Third, the book of God’s benefits and blessings. We should be humbled on account of our ingratitude for all the blessings of God. We should be humbled for our inability to use them properly. “We need strong legs to bear up under days of prosperity”.3 A believer will be deeply convinced of his unworthiness when receiving special benefits. We should seek to say with Jacob: “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth” (Gen 32:10), and with David, when the Lord rejoiced his heart: “I will yet be more vile than this, and will be base in mine own sight” (2 Sam 6:22). “Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me” (Prov 30:8).
The example of Christ is of the greatest value. His whole life was one continued example of humility. Remember Answer 27 in The Shorter Catechism: “Christ’s humiliation consisted in His being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the
3Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, vol 4, p 77.
wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time”.
Humility and prayer. True prayer can only be offered up with humility. “Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to His will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgement of His mercies” (Shorter Catechism, Ans 98). A Brakel defines humility in prayer as: “The sensible, humble disposition of the supplicant, resulting from a view of the majesty of God, and of his own sinfulness, unworthiness, and impotence either to supply for his deficiency or to have it fulfilled by God”.4 We must seek always to be humble before God. “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Mic 6:8).
Humility in prayer is very pleasing to God. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Ps 51:17). God hears and answers humble supplicants. “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Is 57:15). A humble supplicant finds a special delight as they believe it to be a great mercy to receive an answer to prayer. He counts it as an answer to prayer when he receives a view of the Lord’s majesty and glory. Through these he receives immediate assurance that God has heard him and will provide for him according to His will. He “giveth grace to the humble” (1 Pet 5:5).
Pride and humility. Pride is like a cancer that destroys the beauty of the fairest flowers of grace in the life of the believer. But humility crowns the most excellent gifts and graces. Augustine says, “As pride was the beginning of sin, so humility must be the beginning of the Christian discipline . . . for those who would learn God’s ways, humility is the first thing, humility is the second, humility is the third”.5
Pride is a great hindrance to understanding the things of God, but humility is an excellent way to receive and benefit from spiritual wisdom. Pride hinders the receiving of our prayers but God hears those of the humble. Pride is a lie, but humility is the truth. Pride is easily affronted and quickly despised by others, but humility is the most certain way to obtain real honour. Pride turned Lucifer into a devil, but humility exalts the sinner to be a saint and to have an inheritance among the sons of God. Augustine again says, “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as
4Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, vol 3, p 456.
5Quoted in John Blanchard, The Complete Gathered Gold, Evangelical Press, 2007, p 323.
angels”6; and William Secker, “Pride is a sinner’s torment, but humility is a saint’s ornament”7. God resists the proud who profess open defiance and hostility against Him, but He gives grace to the humble.
Conclusion. Let us aim at obtaining a humble spirit. To those who seek Him, God promises grace and pardon and every remedy against misery and oppression. It is humility that will give contentment in all conditions and situations. Thomas Brooks said, “The most holy men are always the most humble men”; and, “The right manner of growth is to grow less in one’s own eyes”8.
With this in mind I will leave you with the words of John Newton in one of his sermons: “Let us reflect much on the majesty and grandeur of the God we serve: let us adore His condescension in favouring us with a revelation of His will: let us learn to consider the Word of God, and the wisdom of God, as terms of the same import: in a word: let us study to know ourselves, our sinfulness and ignorance; then we shall no longer read the Scriptures with indifference or prepossession, but with the greatest reverence and attention, and with the most enlarged expectation”9 – even of obtaining eternal life itself.