Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:2
And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves before God .... Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor. James 4:6-7A, 10 (NLT)
We have said that Proverbs is a book about wisdom for life, a wisdom that begins with the fear of Lord. We noted that the "Fear of the Lord" involves a reverence for God where we truly embrace the fact that "God is God and we are not." So, Proverbs takes the multi-faceted thing we call life and zeros in on many of its facets in terms that put God right in the center of things. In order to gain that which the book of Proverbs has to offer, we need to be ones who are willing to put our primary focus on God and that which he communicates to us about his intentions for our lives. The willingness to have this kind of focus comes from a genuine humility of mind, heart, and spirit. So, the words from today's verse from Proverbs makes absolute sense, "with humility comes wisdom."
Humility is all about putting ourselves under God's authority and care. This is a wise thing to do and it allows us to become ongoing recipients of wisdom. But for this to come about we need a special touch of grace from God. It is not in our nature to be humble. Society conditions us to be anything but humble. This is why James prefaces what he says about humility with a reminder that God gives grace generously. Without a work of grace by God in our lives, we would not be able to humble ourselves before him. It is in this place of humility that we see our need for wisdom from God for living life properly. And of course, Proverbs is all about wisdom from God for living life properly.
Lord, help me to hunger for you and the wisdom you have to offer. Teach me what it means to put you at the center of everything. Please continue your work of grace in my life that infuses me with a genuine humility of mind, heart, and spirit. I love you, I worship you, and I depend on you, Lord. Amen!
