Humble Yourself Before the Lord October 25, 1998
For the past few days, I have been reading the first letter of Peter. The following is my reflection on this epistle.
This letter was written by Peter the leader of the apostles to Christians in the Roman world. Christians are called by God according to his plan. Because of his great mercy he gave us a dynamic hope by giving us himself as our inheritance.
As we live our lives on earth, God slowly and surely reveals himself to us. This is done through sufferings.
If we suffer according to God's will, we learn to be firm in our faith, trusting in God. As we develop this trust, God reveals himself more to us and we get to know God more.
Our goal in faith is salvation. The psalmist says, "The Lord is my light and my salvation". The goal of our faith therefore is God himself. To help us achieve this goal, we have to humble ourselves before him. We have to stand naked before the Lord - without the masks we have. This is what pleases the Lord and what we have to do.
The humility God requires of us is the same humility that Jesus showed in his life. Jesus humbled himself such that he totally disposed himself to the Father's will. And as we see, the Father did not abandon Jesus. On the contrary, although Jesus was rejected by the elders and the king, he is now exalted by the Father above all creation. This shows us that trusting God will only lead to God's plan for us. And his plan is far better than what we can ever hope for.
What God says is final - no one can challenge it.
So Peter exhorts us to live in obedience to God. When things seem dark and uncertain, the more we have to wait and trust in the Lord. If we dare to do things our way during these times, the result is certain - failure and more darkness.
The darkness that comes our way - in our walk in faith is actually God's way of teaching us to trust him and to surrender all things to him.
Trust comes from humility. When we realize our position before the Lord, we see ourselves as God sees us. This shows us that we are nothing and that God is everything. From this realization comes the desire to trust God. It is in trusting him that we can surrender to him. And it is only when we surrender to God that he reveals himself to us. Trusting is not a leap of faith. There is no such thing as blind faith for a Christian because although a Christian does not see the future, he sees the person he trusts - Jesus Christ.
The key verse therefore of this letter is: "Humble yourself under God's mighty hand that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxieties upon him because he cares for you."
Let us therefore pray to the Lord that we may have to grace to humble ourselves before him - so that we can get to know him more.
God bless us all.