“Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.” {1 Kings 21:29}
“Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD.” {2 Kings 22:19}
Here in our first two scriptures, we have two kings, Ahab and Josiah, who came before God and humbled themselves. God was touched by their acts of humbleness and was drawn to do them good instead of evil.
King Ahab was a very evil man. According to the Old Testament he was one of the wicked kings in Israel. During his reign he had Israel worship an idol called Baal. His wife had the priests of the Lord killed. Basically anyone that loved God during that time and did not worship Baal got persecuted. Well, Ahab loved this garden that was beside his palace and wanted it. Unfortunately for him, Naboth his neighbor wouldn’t give it up or sell it to him. He told king Ahab that the land belonged to his fathers before him and he did not feel it right to give it up when the Lord had given it to them. Well, Ahab goes home and sulked in his bed and wouldn’t eat. Here comes his goodly wife Jezebel and finds out what he was crying about and arranged it so that Ahab did end up with Naboth’s land. How? She had Naboth killed. She had him stoned to death. She had false witnesses accuse Naboth of blaspheming the name of the Lord and the town got together and stoned him. Needless to say, the Lord was not at all pleased about it and sent Prophet Elijah to tell Ahab basically that that was it for him. His life and his kingdom will be taken away from him and from his posterity. He and his wife are going to end up perished and taken out of the way by the Lord. Furthermore God is going to bring such evil in the land that they’ve never seen before because of the wicked things that they were doing. Well, wouldn’t you know it, when Ahab heard the word of the Lord he rent his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted and went about his way “softly” after this. He went and humbled himself before God. According to the Lord he “humbled himself before Me”, and because of this, God was touched. He told him that all the evil things He was planning to do against Ahab, He was going to bring it instead to his posterity so he wouldn’t have to see it. Can you believe that? I’m telling you, what a powerful thing this is to humble ourselves before God. When all else fails and you want God to move, that’s the answer – humble yourself.
The same promise was given to king Josiah. He was a child king and had a tender heart for the Lord. At the very early age of eighteen he sought the Lord when one of his servants brought to him a scroll with the words of God in it. When he heard what was said and how God was angry at His people for forsaking Him, Josiah rent his clothes and humbled himself before the Lord. He sent his servant to inquire before God and find out what their status was with Him. Again, the same promise that God had given to Ahab – because he humbled himself before God, the Lord had decided not to bring the evil in Josiah’s time.
I don’t know about you, but I would very much like that for myself. If I could see peace happen to me in my life – for the rest of my life – I would be so happy.
There is something about a humble spirit that the Lord loves. It will bring God anytime when you have a need of Him. Humbleness is not easy by any means. Some people seem to just be born with it. Others struggle with it. According to the dictionary humbleness means, “It is not proud or arrogant, but modest…having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, or subservience.” That is tough isn’t it? Having a feeling of insignificance or inferiority? We don’t like that at all, do we? We want to be significant. We want to be heard. We matter. We want to be put on a pedestal and have people say, “Look how wonderful he/she is!” We don’t want to be forgotten and be put in a corner and ignored. We want to be acknowledged and paid attention to. Well, we can feel all that and it’s normal to desire to be acknowledged, but the difference with one that has a humble heart is that even if no one acknowledges you it’s okay. As a matter of fact for some people they’re relieved when they’re not put on the spot and paid much attention to – they’re so humble! It’s okay for them. They don’t think too highly of themselves that when people hurt them it’s not a big deal. They move on.
That is exactly the spirit that God will gravitate to – one who doesn’t care too much about themselves. He becomes their advocate. Even though no one might think so great of them and look at them, God sees them. He will be their Champion, He will speak up for them, and He will lift them up.
This is what I am learning from the Lord. Even though it might be a struggle for me to admit I’m wrong and swallow my pride and humble myself, acknowledging my weaknesses before Him, I can come to Him and ask Him to help me. I don’t have to do this walk with Him alone. I can most certainly ask for His help. It’s not always going to be easy when people come and hurt us. We want to be heard, we want justice, we don’t like feeling put to the side. But the Lord has shown me as well, He is my help – He is my comfort. When no one is paying attention to me or cares enough about me, that is okay, the Lord does. I can run to Him for comfort. I can find in Him a friend that sticks to me closer than anyone. He knows my desires and grants them because He loves me. I don’t have to put myself out there, up in the front, for everyone to see because I am secure in His love for me. It is okay if nobody else cares as long as He does.
That is the beauty of Jesus Christ and finding our righteousness in Him – He will help us to be humble before Him. He will help us to find God’s favor in our lives. He will be our shelter, our hope and our strength. He loves us so much that there is nothing that He will not do for us, if we are willing to allow Him to work in our hearts to be like Him.
“For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” {Isaiah 66:2}
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. {1 Peter 5:6}
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. {Psalm 51:17}
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. {Luke 18:14}
Prayer
Father, You are my God who loves me and cares so much for me. I thank You for being in my life. I thank You for the love You have for me today. For giving Your life at the cross to set me free from all my sins. Thank You for forgiving me and coming into my life.
Please help me to bring my heart and desires to You in prayer always, to be honest and open to You and not withhold anything from You. Please help me to be humble enough when You correct me and repent of my sins. Help me to be humble enough to thank You for caring so much for me to bring me in the right path with You. Help me Father to love You for the rest of my days and never get tired of your corrections. Thank You Father, for hearing my prayers, today. I pray this in Your wonderful name, Jesus. Amen.
Repost from March 2017
