1 “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?”
If I don’t walk humbly with other Christians, I cannot walk humbly with God. Can I? I mean, if I’m walking with two people, can I possibly be fully clothed in the presence of one but utterly naked in the presence of the other?
2 “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.”
Oh, God, give me the humbleness of mind to not be that way!
3 “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”
My rendition: “You ask but do not receive because you do not ask humbly.”
4 “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
Corrupting myself with friendship with the world makes it impossible to walk humbly with God. How can I, when He has declared His enmity with me?!
5 “Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?”
Humility enables me to believe God’s Word is purposeful.
6 “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
Today, God will either resist me or aid me. His choice will depend on mine. Should I choose pride, He will resist me. If I choose humility, His grace will empower me.
7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
Only the humble succeed against the devil.
8 “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
Only the humble recognize their need to the degree necessary to turn to God, acknowledging Him in all their ways. Only the humble care enough their dirty sinfulness to seek cleansing. Only the humble can have hearts that are pure and single-minded toward God and His kingdom.
9 “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.”
In other words, humble yourself!
10 “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
Are discouragement and despondency and depression indicators of a lack of humility? I don’t know. But it does appear that the way out of those Dreadful Dees is humility before God.
11 “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.”
That doesn’t sound like walking humbly with God and with my brother! He who is humble is neither evil speaker nor evil judge.
12 “There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?”
Uh…someone who is not humble?
13 “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:”
The proud does not have God in the picture.
14 “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”
If that’s my life, I don’t have much time to be humble! If that’s my life, I definitely don’t have any foundation on which to build pride.
15 “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”
The humble remembers God in his planning.
16 “But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.”
Pride is evil.
17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
Pride imagines personal exemptions from doing good. Humility sees the opportunity to do good as a duty to do good.
from James 4:7,8,10
A little bit more from James 4: Sunday School Lesson: August 24, 2008