Scripture:
James 4:6-10 ESV
[6] But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” [7] Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Observation:
As we know, James seems to have the right thing to say this morning. In this group of scriptures, James deals with a few issues in a short amount of words. Starting with grace, quickly moving to pride, and then giving an honest picture of how GOD looks at these things. Giving grace to those who will humble themselves and standing in opposition to those who are too proud to admit their faults. The first word in verse 7, I believe, is the key to all of it. Submit but not to just anything… James is giving instructions to submit to the one who made you… and resist the one who wants to destroy you. He tells us that if this is our stance, the devil WILL flee. Verse 8 tells us what to do after we know that we have fully submitted and the enemy has left us at that point. we need to draw near to the Father, and HE will draw near to us. Confessing our sins to HIM, understanding where we were wrong, and asking HIM for forgiveness. Standing in true submission and humility before GOD, the father will be noticed by HIM, and HE will exalt you.
Application:
Pride is very dangerous and can sneak into your life, not even looking like pride. The last thing any of us need to do is stand in opposition to GOD. But to be honest, it’s easier to do than you might think. Because pride is very deceptive and dishonest, it will lie to you and tell you your stance is correct and you should not yield. You might be in a situation where you know someone owes you an apology, and you are not backing down until they say they are sorry. You may be completely right about it. Or you may just need to forgive and move on. I have a question. Is unforgiveness pride?? I’m not sure why that came out, but I believe it’s a valid question. I never want to be in opposition to GOD. My desire is to have HIM so close that HE is the very center of everything I do and say. I don’t have to be right… I would rather admit my wrongs and draw near to the father. I can be a very prideful ego driven man, and I want to be on guard for that. Resisting the enemies’ secret attacks of pride can be very difficult. He is cunning enough to where you don’t even know you are in opposition to GOD. Look at Paul, for example, on his way to drag followers of Jesus Christ to their death thinking he was doing GOD’S work. Until he found himself flat on his back due to his opposition to the father he was completely unaware of. Let us all set down our right to be right and just draw near to GOD. Let HIM fight for us and just tuck up close to the Father…so close, we are under the shadows of HIS wings.
Prayer:
Father, I hope that you can make some kind of sense out of this. Because I’m not sure where it all came from. I just know that I want to serve you, and you alone help us all to just humbly rest in you. We get a lot going on and forget to draw near to you. Let us not forsake that. Overwhelm us with your Holy Spirit. Lead us in humility and meekness. So that all who we come into contact with today see your reflection in who we are, it’s in the mighty name of Jesus we pray amen.