Humble Yourselves Under The Mighty Hand Of God

This is the ninth post from Chapter 6 of Friends With God: The Gifts Of God

In previous posts in this series we have seen that one of the great blessings God has given us is the weekly day of rest, called the Sabbath, which simply means “rest”. How we rest on this day, was addressed in the previous post. Our attitude to others who do or don’t rest on this day is what this post is about.

The Tax Collector And The Pharisee

While the religious leaders of Israel kept the Sabbath, Jesus pointed out that it was their attitude to others rather than what they actually did, or did not do, that was their problem:

And He (Jesus) spoke this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and despised others:
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed within himself in this way: God, I thank You that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
And (in comparison) standing afar off, the tax-collector would not even lift up his eyes to Heaven, but struck on his breast, saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”
I tell you, this man (the tax collector) went down to his house justified rather than the other.
For everyone who exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted. (Luke 18:9-14)

It is worth noting that “fasting twice a week” was not a command of God, but just a ritual of the Pharisees. They had no right to condemn others for not following their extreme rules. Even so, the Pharisee did do a number of good works, but it was his self-righteousness, in despising the tax collector, that ensured he was not justified before God.

In comparison, the tax collector didn’t mention anything good about himself, but just prayed before God for mercy. He was justified by God, simply because he humbled himself.

• We, therefore, need to be careful not to fall into the same trap of despising others for not doing what we think is right, or all our righteousness will be worthless.

Be Humble Before God

If we judge how other people keep the law, then we put ourselves in a position that God reserves for himself:

Be humbled before the Lord, and He will lift you up. Do not speak against one another, brothers. He who speaks against his brother, and who judges his brother, speaks against the Law and judges the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law, but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you who judges another? (James 4:10-12)

God is the lawgiver and the judge; we should not allow ourselves to presume to take on God’s responsibility. We need to be humble, in order for God to exalt us, when he sees fit:

Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; casting all your anxiety upon him, because he cares for you. (1Peter 5:6-7)

The Apostle Paul also addresses the issue of judging others.
While what he says is in the context of food, the same principle applies for all of God’s commands:

For indeed one believes to (be able to) eat all things; but being weak, another eats vegetables. Do not let him who eats despise him who does not eat; and do not let him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him.
Who are you that judges another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. But he will stand, for God is able to make him stand.
… Christ both died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living.
But why do you judge your brother? Or also why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God."
So then each one of us will give account concerning himself to God.
Then let us not judge one another anymore, but rather judge this, not to put a stumbling-block or an offense before his brother.
… Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God.
Blessed is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
But, the one doubting, if he eats, he has been condemned, because it is not of faith; and all that is not of faith is sin. (Rom 14:2-23)

Clearly the point he is making is that we should not push our ideas onto other people. No one else should judge us, or despise us for what we do, and we should not judge or despise others. It’s up to you personally, how you interpret the intent of scripture.

Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. We should work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. (Phil 2:12)

Does this mean we can do anything we want? Obviously not, as Christ tells us:

• You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. (John 15:14)

• If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. (John 15:10)

We therefore need to keep God’s commandments in order to be his friends, and be loved by him.

photo by Author

Righteous Judgement

The Pharisees even had their own rules such that they condemned Christ for healing on the Sabbath! Yet Jesus said to them:

Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. (John 7:24)

We therefore must judge, but in a righteous manner, not according to man’s rules but God’s.

As discussed in the previous chapter, we must also judge our leaders, to determine if they are worthy of the responsibility they have been given, to represent God and teach his word. (Matt 7:15-20)

Christ tells a parable in Luke 12:42-48, which concludes that God will judge the leaders, and all of us, according to what we know, and how we act, such that:

For to whomever much is given, of him much shall be required. And to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. (Luke 12:48)

As with the entire law of God, there is a time to judge and a time not to judge- and every day we need to judge what that means! (Ecc 3:1-8)

God expects us, in the circumstances in which we find ourselves, to judge and make determinations about how we keep his law.

This is a weighty responsibility, and we can’t rely on others to take on this responsibility for us. In this way God expects us to have an active and important part to play in our own salvation, but we must do so in humility.

The Humble Spirit Shall Obtain Honour

Some ministers say that God doesn’t need anything from us, and consequently we can’t do anything of value for him, or to even please him. They degrade our value to God, often supporting their views by quoting such scriptures as all our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isa 64:6-7)

However, (as discussed in Chapter 2) such verses are taken out of context, for when we choose to live God’s way of love, we are a delight to him:

They that are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the Lord: but such as are upright in their way are his delight. (Prov 11:20)

We can choose to be upright, or we can choose to be perverse, and our choices determine if God delights in us or not.

God will delight in us if we delight in his law, and in doing so we contribute to our essential role in our own salvation:

Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit (which guides you) unto unfeigned love (love that is not pretended) of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently: (1Peter1:22)

We are expected to purify our hearts. We obey the truth. We have unfeigned love of the brethren. We love with a pure heart. In doing all this we walk in his way of life, and we are then very precious to God, and he delights in us:

And they shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my special jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him. (Mal 3:17)

When we please God and delight in him, then he will delight in us and love us, and then he has promised to do anything we ask of him, including giving us eternal life in his Kingdom! (John 14:13)

To therefore delight in God, is not just about keeping his Sabbath holy, but all of his commandments need to be understood and delighted in.

• God’s laws are given for our benefit, to enhance our life, and everyone else’s life also. Why should we not delight in them?

If we choose to delight in the laws of God, then we will appreciate their intent and purpose, as we will be looking for how they benefit us, and our fellow man, rather than focusing on the difficulty in implementing them.

And if we choose to follow God’s way of life, then God gives us the blessing of his favour, or grace:

For whoever (searches in order to) find me finds life, and shall obtain favour from the Lord. But he who sins against me (does not search to find wisdom) wrongs his own soul; all who hate me (are too apathetic to search for wisdom) love death. (Prov 8:32-36)

We need to choose to follow God’s law and his way of wisdom and eternal life, if not then we have actually chosen the fate of eternal death.

The Fear And Love Of God

He won’t grant you eternal life if you don’t love his law, and respect him and his awesome power and purpose.

This attitude is often termed “the fear of the Lord”. It does not mean we are afraid of God, but rather that we hold him in awe and honour. If we love God, then we will hate to do evil:

The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
(Prov 8:13)

Only God can grant you eternal life, and he won’t want to live with someone whom he hates, or who hates him.

We need wisdom to discern how, or if, we apply the laws of God in any situation. Some of the commandments may simply not be applicable today, as they were written for a different time and place.

We also need not to take everything in scripture literally. Some scriptures are hyperbole, such as “if your hand causes you to sin cut it off and cast it from you”. (Matt 5:30)

Our freedom and responsibility to work out our own salvation, does not mean that we can have any sort of weird belief and expect God, or our human friends, to want to spend time with us.

It’s our deliberations that will be judged by God, and what we determine to do will always be according to our limited understanding of the scriptures- for we all know in part. (1Cor 13:9-12) Therefore, none of us will have complete understanding of the Father’s commands, so we need to choose to be humble when looking at God’s word:

A man's pride shall bring him low: but he that is of a humble spirit shall obtain honour. (Prov 29:23)

If we are humble in our own eyes, God will honour us with his favour. We also need the same attitude of humility when assessing how other people choose to keep the law.

We are all limited in understanding, and we all need mercy and compassion from others, not condemnation and despising- such as was the attitude of the Pharisee toward the tax collector.

Buying Food On The Sabbath

With the above in mind, it is clear that we must make our own personal determinations as to what we should, or should not do, on the Sabbath. We must base this assessment on the intent of the law rather than the strict letter, which may or may not be applicable or relevant in our day and age.

As discussed in the previous post in this series, perhaps we may justify to ourselves not shutting off our power, sewerage, water and phone, as it simply won’t make any difference to these utilities if we did or didn’t turn them off.

Could we use the same logic to justify buying food at a market, or going out to a restaurant? This seems different, as if we don’t go to restaurants then it may make a significant difference to the number of staff they employ. We therefore would be hypocritical to expect others to work for us while we are not working.

There is also another reason for not going out to restaurants, and that is to be a light to the world of God’s way of life. (Matt 5:14-16) If we go out to a restaurant, or buy food at a market, then people will notice that we are buying food on the Sabbath and (if they know we are keep the Sabbath) they will then assume that God considers it to be acceptable.

If we are to be a light to the world, we need to demonstrate to others how to live, which is to rest on the Sabbath and not buy or sell, if at all possible. This includes not having people prepare food for us, and waiting on us. It’s our day of rest and we should not expect others to work for us either, as the commandment clearly tells us. (Exo 20:10) See also Nehemiah 10:31 and Nehemiah 13:15-21.

How far we take the prohibition against buying or selling is something we need to work out in our own circumstances, in our own society.

For example; are we also to not buy food on Sunday because it was harvested or transported on Saturday? How can we possibly know? And does God expect you to know all the circumstances of how things are produced, and if that encroaches on the Sabbath or not?

You don’t need to believe some preacher who tells you what to do, just because he sounds more knowledgeable than you, or presents his arguments more forcefully. Take your time. Don’t be afraid of God, we are to fear him in respect and love, we should not be afraid that he will unjustly or unmercifully condemn us.

Don’t worry about his displeasure at your lack of understanding. We have an entire life to grow in understanding.

Wisdom takes time to develop, and God is very merciful and compassionate. He wants to be your friend, not your taskmaster.

Travel On The Sabbath

How far to travel on the Sabbath was also an issue which people in ancient Israel needed to determine; however there is nothing in the scriptures to say what is reasonable.

The religious leaders of Christ’s time came up with “a Sabbath day’s journey” as acceptable. (Acts 1:12) This distance (of about 2,000 cubits, which is just under a mile) is not something spelt out by scripture. However, if it were enacted it would have meant that most people would have needed to live within a short walk of the local Synagogue, or close to Jerusalem to go to the temple.

Today we need to determine how far we can travel in our car. Certainly, driving is not as tiring as walking, but it’s also often not actually restful to drive on a busy freeway, particularly compared to walking down a country lane for less than a mile.

All these things, and more, could be taken into account when you determine for yourself, in consultation with God in prayer, how to implement the directives he has provided in the Bible on how to rest.

Once you have gone through this process, then you will be able to rest and have the peace of God upon your souls.

Didn’t think taking a rest could be so stressful, huh!

In the next and final post in this series we will look at the extreme cases of keeping the Sabbath in difficult times, and keeping it in God’s ideal society.