Being Willing to be Humbled under God’s Mighty Hand to Enjoy the All Grace of God

We believers in Christ need to be willing to be humbled under the mighty hand of God, which carries out the government of God, for God gives grace to the humble but resists the proud; if we are humbled under God’s mighty hand, we can enjoy the Triune God as all grace in our daily life. Amen!

The Lord Jesus was such a person; He was God incarnated to be man, but He was humbled under God’s mighty hand.

He had the entire Godhead embodied in Him, yet He was not proud of it.

In one instant, He was glorified before His disciples on the mountain of transfiguration, but this did not make Him proud, neither was He boastful of what He knew or what He could do.

Rather, He humbled Himself under the mighty hand of God, and He took all the situations and things around Him as God’s sovereign arrangement to cause Him to be humble and submit Himself to God.

What a pattern the Lord Jesus was to us! He was among the disciples as their Teacher, yet He was their Servant. He girded Himself with humility when He was with them, and He was serving them both physically and spiritually.

When the disciples were a little proud of the Lord’s coming in His kingdom, and they were fighting about who would be at His left hand and who would sit at His right hand, the Lord displayed His humility.

He could have rebuked them and told them off, saying that He was the Lord and they were nothing; however, He took the position of humility, saying that only the Father knows these things. Wow!

Not only was Christ the Son of God one with God the Father, but He humbled Himself to the uttermost and took the Father as His Head, His source, and His everything.

When entire cities rejected Him and His message of the gospel, He did not become proud to tell them off and threaten them; rather, He extolled the Father, for He hid these things from the smart ones but revealed them to the lowly ones.

The Lord was meek and lowly in heart, and He asked us to learn from Him.

There are so many examples in His life that show us how the Lord humbled Himself.

Even when He seemed to be glorified outwardly, entering into the city of Jerusalem on a colt, and everyone crying out Hosanna to the King, He still was humble.

The envious Pharisees tried to tell Him off, but the Lord said, If these don’t cry, the stones will cry Hosanna. Wow!

The Lord was completely selfless in everything He did, and such a One lives in us. In ourselves, we are very proud, and even when we think we’re not proud, pride rises in us for not being proud.

Because we are fallen, pride is in our very nature, and the Lord is hindered from giving us grace, for He gives grace to the humble but resists the proud.

We should be Humbled under the Mighty Hand of God to Enjoy the Grace of God

Peter was very proud, and the Lord was faithful to expose his pride, even his pride in his zeal of following the Lord and being willing to lay down his life for Him.

He was dealt with by the Lord in his pride to the uttermost, and the Lord even told him, after His resurrection, that Peter would be taken where he did not want to be taken because of the Lord.

So Peter wrote in his epistles that the younger men need to be subject to elders, and we all need to gird ourselves with humility toward one another (1 Pet. 5:5).

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Therefore, we need to be humbled under the mighty hand of God so that He may exalt us in due time (v. 6).

Each one of us, as believers in Christ, needs to be humbled under the mighty hand of God, which carries out the government of God.

In our Christian life and in the church life, we need to be humbled.

This doesn’t mean that we try to humble ourselves and build up a humbled attitude in ourselves; our very self-made humbleness is pride in the Lord’s eyes and also before others.

What we need to do is not just gird up the loins of our mind with the proper attitude as the Lord did (1 Pet. 1:13) but even more, gird our entire being with humility (5:5).

The Greek word for gird here is derived from the noun meaning “a slave’s apron”.

This indicates that, as the Lord’s slaves, we need to gird ourselves with the apron of humility before the Lord and before one another.

The Lord Jesus girded Himself with an apron and humbled Himself to the uttermost, loving His disciples to the uttermost, and washed their feet – especially Peter’s (see John 13:4-7).

He is our pattern and He lives in us to reproduce the same kind of life in us today.

Even as the Lord girded Himself with humility, so we need to gird ourselves with Christ as our humility and be humbled under the mighty hand of God so that we may enjoy the grace of God.

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. We may think that this brother or that sister is proud, but pride is in our very nature.

As we grow up in our family, in our city, and in our country, we build up a certain kind of pride.

We are proud of what we are, what we know, where we come from, what we can do, and so many other things.

And we don’t even realize how proud we are!

Those around us know and feel how proud we are, but we are oblivious to it.

All the disciples knew how proud James and John were when they asked the Lord to be sat at the right and left hand of Christ at His coming in His kingdom, but these two were oblivious to it.

It is the same with us today.

Because we are so proud and we’re not even conscious of it, we cannot enjoy the grace of God.

We have received the initial grace, but this grace needs to be multiplied in us so that we may participate in all grace.

The Triune God embodied in Christ and realized as the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit is the varied grace of God (1 Pet. 4:10) as the all grace (5:10) to be the rich supply of life to us.

This is the Triune God ministered to us in many aspects (2 Cor. 13:14; 12:9).

But we may miss this grace, for God Himself may resist us, because we are proud. Wow! God gives Himself as grace only to the humble believers.

Time and time again, in situation after situation and trial after trial, the Lord’s mighty hand is upon us to expose how proud we are so that we may be humbled under the mighty hand of God to enjoy Him as grace.

We all need to be humbled under the mighty hand of God; we are humbled not with the expectation that one day God will exalt us, but so that we may receive grace and so that God may gain in us what He is after.

Lord Jesus, we love You and we want to learn from You, for You are meek and lowly in heart. Amen, Lord, we want to gird ourselves with humility toward one another, for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. We open to You, dear Lord. Shine on us. Expose our pride. Enlighten us to see how proud we are concerning what we are, what we know, where we come from, what we can do, and so many other things. May we be humbled under the mighty hand of God so that we may enjoy the grace of God. Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy You as grace. Thank You for coming into us as the initial grace; we want to go on and enjoy the varied grace of God as the all grace, the rich supply of life! Save us from missing Your grace by being proud! Oh Lord, may we enjoy the Triune God Himself ministered to us in many aspects as grace by being humbled under the mighty hand of God! Amen, Lord, we gird ourselves with humility even as You did so that we may be humbled under God’s mighty hand!

Cooperate with God’s Mighty hand by being Willing to be Humbled and Made Lowly

This expression, be humbled under the mighty hand of God (1 Pet. 5:6), is an active-passive matter.

On God’s side, His mighty hand is upon us to humble us; on our side, we cooperate by being willing to be humbled.

God wants to humble us, but we need to cooperate with Him by being willing to be humbled.

The embodiment of pride is Satan himself, and he dwells in our flesh and is embodied in our self.

When we live in the self or the flesh, we are proud, and God is hindered from giving us grace; even more, He resists us.

He operates in the environment through many things, persons, matters, and situations to humble us, but on our side, we need to be willing to be humbled on the mighty hand of God.

God puts each one of us in a certain situation that seems to be beyond our energy, beyond our strength; we are humbled by God, and on our side we need to be humbled.

However, if we don’t have the attitude of being willing to be humbled by God, we may become even more proud, for we may somehow overcome the adverse situation and be even more proud in ourselves.

Pride makes us the biggest fool. Our pride deceives us.

Lucifer’s pride deceived him to the extent that he thought he could be like God.

Nebuchadnezzar’s pride deceived him to think that all these things he has are because of his own strength.

May we be saved from the blindness brought in by pride and may we have the attitude of being humbled under the mighty hand of God.

God’s hand designs a particular set of situations, people, and things around us to humble us; on our side, we need to be humbled under God’s mighty hand.

He arranges certain sufferings and persecutions to humble us.

We may study very hard at school but we may get a lower grade than expected; this humbles us.

We may work very hard at the office but we may never get promoted or appreciated; this humbles us.

Our parents may have a job that is not very highly appreciated but rather, they may be a janitor or a house cleaner; this causes us to be humble.

We may come from a very low-income family, and this causes us to be humble.

We may work very hard but we may not earn that much money, no matter how hard we try; this is to be under God’s mighty hand, and we need to cooperate by being willing to be humbled under God’s mighty hand.

We may marry the love of our life, but after a few years of marriage and a few children, our spouse may give us a hard time and much suffering may ensue; we need to be humbled under God’s mighty hand.

We cannot make ourselves humble; however, we can cooperate with God’s operation to be humbled.

We need to be willing to be made humble, lowly, under the mighty hand of God.

The mighty hand of God refers to God’s administrating hand seen especially in His judgment (1 Pet. 1:17; 4:17).

We all are under God’s judgment, which begins from His house.

God judges us because He wants to purify us and remove anything unclean, impure, unholy and unrighteous from us for us to be holy in all our manner of life.

We may think we are ok, and even after passing through some judgment and trial, we may think we are even better than before; however, we need to realize that we have so much pride. Oh, Lord!

The Lord’s mighty hand is on us to humble us, and we need to be willing to be made humble.

May we learn from the Lord Jesus, who is meek and lowly in heart (Matt. 11:29).

When we’re willing to be made lowly by the Lord, we will enjoy much grace, even the Triune God as varied grace and all grace of God.

God’s administrative hand is operating in His judgment over us; He judges us by means of trials, sufferings, and persecutions, and on our side, we need to have the attitude of being willing to be humbled under the mighty hand of God.

To be humbled under God’s mighty hand is to be made humble by God; however, we must cooperate with God’s operation and be willing to be made humble, lowly, under His mighty hand.

It’s one thing for God to humble us; it is another thing for us to be willing to be humbled, to accept His arrangement.

Job was humbled by God through all the things happening to him and especially through his losses; he was very proud, however, of his integrity and self-made righteousness.

Then, God appeared to him, and he simply repented in dust and ashes, for he realized that God’s mighty hand was upon him.

We may not experience the same kind of humbling as he did, but God’s mighty hand is upon us to do whatever is necessary for us, and we need to cooperate.

God’s operation through the environment, things, matters, and persons needs our cooperation; we need to be humbled.

We need to come to the Lord about this and tell Him,

Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with You today by being willing to be humbled under the mighty hand of God. Amen, Lord, we open to You and we give ourselves to You. May we be humbled under God’s mighty hand so that we may receive the grace of God. Thank You, Lord, for all Your arrangement in our situations and all the things, matters, and people around us. May we be willing to be humbled under Your mighty hand operating in us and around us. We come to You, dear Lord Jesus, to learn from You, for You are meek and lowly in heart. Make us the same as You are in this matter. May we not resist Your mighty hand. May we not become proud of what we have, what we are, and what we can do. Oh Lord, may we actively be willing to be humbled so that You may have a way to humble us under Your mighty hand. May we cooperate with Your operation. May we cooperate with God’s operation and be willing to be made lowly under His mighty hand! Amen, Lord, gain in us what You are after today!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Peter, msg. 33, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living a Christian Life and Church Life under the Government of God for the Economy of God (2024 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 2, Living a Christian Life under the Government of God.
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