…[clothe yourselves with] … humility …
Summary: In the grand scheme of things, understanding a word like “humility” requires us to have an understanding of how we measure our own self-importance.
When I think of humility, I always think of Moses. The Bible says that Moses was “a very humble man.” It goes on to say that he was “more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Number 12:3).
At first glance, that statement sounds oxymoronic.
We assume the first five books of the Bible are written by Moses, so how could he claim to be “more humble than anyone else” and still be humble?
To sort out this conundrum, it helps to remember that God is the author of the Bible, not man. So, that is one thing in Moses’ favor. Secondly, the statement is bracketed in parentheses, so it has the appearance of having been added later. Third, it was true. Moses was the most humble person on the earth.
What does that mean?
In short, the word humility means that a person knows their place in a world that is ruled by God. In a sense, a person’s humility is a measure of how well they know God. The more we know about God, the more we realize how little we know and how relatively unimportant we are.
Let’s consider Moses’ life. He was born at a time in history when the government demanded that all Hebrew baby boys be thrown into the Nile River and drowned. By the hand of God, he was saved from death and ended up being raised in Pharaoh’s household as one of his royal grandchildren.
Life was good in the palace. He had every material thing a person could want. He had social status, position, power, and money. There was nothing Moses did not have except the respect of his fellow Hebrews.
When he was a grown man, he decided to intervene and protect a fellow Hebrew. That decision cost him everything. Within a day he lost everything. Social standing, the favor of Pharaoh, money, power, … everything. Fearing for his life, he left and went to live in the desert.
For a person raised in a palace, this alone was like a death sentence, and might have been except for God’s providence.
God was gracious to Moses. He kept him alive and brought him into a family that accepted him as a son. He married, raised two kids, and grew to be an old man.
Then God called.
Moses came to know God personally in a way unmatched in his time. He saw God in a burning bush and met with him on Mount Sinai.
When it came to knowing God, Moses knew his place. True humility is knowing our place in God’s kingdom.
God is God, and we are not. Humility remembers that always.
Application: To achieve humility, always measure yourself against God.
Food for Thought: How can we know God like Moses did?
Moses was unique in his leadership. Educated in all the wisdom of Egypt and other near eastern cultures of the time he was selected to be the first leader of Israel with a position of unequaled power.
Moses received God’s laws from either the direct voice of God and wrote it down on clay tablets or written by the finger of God Himself who chiseled the letters and words of the 10 commandments and gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai for the people of Israel.
Yet Moses never forgot his unworthiness for this position as he was a murderer who had forfeited his former position and power and chosen permanent exile. God’s grace chose Moses in spite of his past failure. Moses knew who God was, served faithfully as a servant as ruler over God’s household, yet always felt he did not deserve, nor did he see himself as worthy to occupy the position he held and had been appointed in which to serve.
All of us are unworthy and it is only by the grace of God ( His absolutely free Sovereign choice to permit us to serve in whatever capacities He has gifted us in which to be useful in His service and for His kingdom. He calls us as well to simply be faithful. This is an impossible task given our fallen, sinful human natures. Yet by the grace, power and submission to the Holy Spirit the Lord is able to accomplish amazing things using us as His instruments and for His purposes on this earth because of how great and gracious He is. As long as we remember Who it is that accomplishes the work which really matters we will be humble because truly wirhout Him we are unable to do anything of any eternal significance. (John’s gospel Chapter 15.)
Thank you, Jeff!
Our awareness of God’s presence in our lives is both important and powerful!
Thank you for another good devotional brother. And Jeff Hansen -very good synopsis.
I am not sure if I can know God just like Moses did. God had a unique relationship with him. But I can know God in my own unique relationship with Him. And the good news is: I can know God. This is an unexpected miracle based on the work of the cross. God clearly wants a relationship with all created in His image.
I think the more difficult question is: Do I want to know Him? If I seek His face and love Him He is readily available. It is a relationship based on faith – but a very real relationship.
Jeremiah 29: 12 – 13: Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 31: 33 – 34: “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
Jeremiah 33: 3: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
Matthew 11: 28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Philippians 3: 7 – 11: But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in a Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Hebrews 11: 6: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Brother Rich,
Great observation: “And the good news is: I can know God.”
Yes we can!
Do we want to?
That, too, is a good observation. Drawing closer to God requires us to let go of our “self” and embrace our willingness to love God above all else.
Very thoughtful question and Great comments from Jeff and Rich!
How can we know God like Moses did?
We come to know God as we live the lives He has given us, in obedience to His will.
We are all called by God who knew each of us before the creation of this world. Ephesians 1:4, 2:10, John 16:8,15:16, Romans 8:28.
Called not because we of ourselves have any special talents, skills we can offer to God, but because in His timing, His Sovereign Will is being done. Called, in His strength and power, we responded. Some like Joseph in Genesis, are called early in their lives, while many like Moses and Paul are called in later stages of their lives and bring worldly experiences which God intended. Each was uniquely equipped and qualified for His foreknown ministry.
Whatever the circumstances of our calling, all believers have responded in faith to the common Voice of God and at some point each will go through a process of receiving a full understanding of exactly who they were, who they have become, and what they hav been called to do. This process will continue as long as this world continues on its path of decline.
And we as children of God, His chosen people are blessed to remain in this world but not of this world.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15
We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 1John 5:19
Thank you, Ron.
Great reminder that we are all part of the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). Each of us has a role according to what God has appointed for us. In that role we, like Moses, have a special relationship with our Father in heaven.