GOD GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 14, 2024.

SUBJECT : GOD GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE! 

Memory verse: "Surely He scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble." (Proverbs 3 vs 34.) 

READ: First Peter 5 vs 5 - 7:

5:5: Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud. But gives grace to the humble."

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,

5:7: casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

INTIMATION:

God gives grace (unmerited favor, blessing) to the humble, to those who adhere to, trust in, and rely on Him and not on their own ability, schemes, and devises, or even on their own great wisdom, knowledge, and faith. God’s grace is for those who humbly submit themselves to the Lord, who humble themselves under the mighty hand and control of God. And when you that He will exalt you at His own time. 

To humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that in due time He may exalt you, means to ask the Lord for what you need and then wait on Him to provide it as He sees fit, knowing that His timing is always perfect. It means to be still and know that He is God, and that He knows what is best for you in every situation of life. It means to stop trying to make things happen yourself and allow the Lord to show you what you need to do to co-operate with His plan and purpose for you.

The person who really understands the grace of God will not worry. Why? Because worry is a work of the flesh. It is trying to figure out what to do to save oneself rather than trusting in God for deliverance. The individual who is living in constant worry is not receiving the fullness of God's grace, because just as perfect love casts out fear (First John 4 vs 18), so God's grace expels all traces of worry and anxiety. Walk in the grace of the Lord and you will not fulfill the work of the flesh.

We often worry about our position and status, hoping to get proper recognition for what we do. Remember that God's recognition counts more than human praise. Humbly obey God regardless of present circumstances, and in His good time, He will lift you up. Carrying your worries, stresses, and daily struggles by yourself shows that you have not trusted God fully with your life, and this is pride. It takes humility, however, to recognize that God cares, and to admit your need and lay them at the feet of our Messiah.

Sometimes we think that struggles caused by our own sin and foolishness are not God's concern. But when we turn to God in repentance, He will bear the weight even of those struggles. Letting God have your anxieties calls for action, not passivity. We display lack of knowledge of God when we think of everything we did wrong and figure that it automatically disqualifies us for any of God's blessings. And it is under this weight of lack of knowledge that we are destroyed (Hosea 4 vs 6).

If God could bless only perfect people, then He could never bless anyone, because we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3 vs 23.) Consequently, none of us supposedly deserves any good thing from the Lord. But that fact did not keep us from receiving His glorious salvation; why should it keep us from receiving His manifold blessings? If He didn't spare or withhold [even] His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all other things? (Romans 8 vs 32).

The apostle Peter says we should cast the whole of your care (all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns) on God Almighty, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. Don't submit to circumstances, but to the Lord who controls circumstances.

Prayer: Abba Father, in You I live, and move, and have my being. I will forever humble myself before You, knowing that by my strength I can do nothing. Only You strengthens me to do all things! Endue me with the grace to humbly submit myself to Your care and control at all times, in Jesus’ great Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!