Seek Humility!

Seek Humility!

“Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.” Zeph. 2:3. Isn’t it amazing that the Lord exhorts those who are meek and humble to continue seeking humility, and those who uphold His righteous justice, to continue seeking righteousness? As a human being, I am quickly satisfied with attaining a certain degree of righteousness and humility. That is precisely the trap my adversary wants me to fall into; that I become satisfied with the little progress I have made and thereby lose the longing to actively seek more humility. I live a good life and perhaps bless those around me, and maybe my goodness gets noticed. Then I start to feel quite pleased with the level of righteousness I have attained. It doesn’t express itself in a crude and obvious way at first; no, it usually starts with a few small, hidden thoughts, albeit arrogant ones. “Then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’” Deut. 8:17. Such thoughts about how well I have done things quickly evolve into thoughts about how poorly others are doing things. When I allow such thoughts to live and develop, I will not be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.

God has promised that He will give grace to the humble, and that He will richly bless those who seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. When that blessing comes over your life, the exhortation still applies: “Seek humility, seek righteousness!” And when I do this continually, then I enter into a glorious development where God cannot help but bless me, to the same extent that I continue to humble myself. Think how good it will be when the “meek of the earth,” those who actively seek to humble themselves in all circumstances of life, come together as members of one another and allow themselves to be built up to form the body of Christ here on earth. What a fellowship there will be!

Let us never be satisfied with the degree of humility and righteousness we have attained, but let us always say, together with David: “And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight.” 2 Sam. 6:22.