What Does it Mean to Humble Yourself?

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may lift you up in due time” 1 Peter 5:6.

The book of 1 Peter is largely about suffering. The apostle Peter wrote this letter to encourage Christians who were being persecuted for their faith. That’s the context. Click here to read chapter 5 in its entirety.

But I think it also applies to suffering in general. It’s one of the most encouraging books of the Bible to read when you’re hurting.

What Does it Mean to Humble Yourself?

One thing I think it means to “humble yourself under the mighty hand of God” is to accept the “manna” he’s given you to meet your needs. Manna refers to the food the Israelites were given supernaturally by God.

It was supposed to meet their need while they were trekking through the desert on the way to the promise land.

It simply appeared on the ground every morning with the dew. And it doesn’t sound like it tasted bad. In fact, it is described as tasting like “wafers made with honey” (Exodus 16:31).

And it seems to have sustained their physical bodies for many years while in the wilderness. The problem was it was the same thing day after day. And they got tired of it after a while.

I think one metaphorical meaning of manna is this. It’s to accept the fact that, for now, you have to get your strength and sustenance from the promises of God rather than the physical provision. What do I mean by this?

Years ago, I felt like the Lord was leading me to stop using credit cards to get what I wanted and learn to live within my means. He showed me that to insist on having a lifestyle that He hadn’t given me was not being humble. To be humble means to be content with what you’ve been given at the moment.

Accepting Reality

Well, this meant I had to cancel my cable service that I was putting on a credit card every month. This was a sacrifice because I loved watching me some murder mysteries with dinner. In fact, I didn’t have any money left over after paying my bills to buy or experience much of anything.

I was putting in long hours at work and never got to have any fun. This wouldn’t have been so bad if I wasn’t a giver. But I was giving more than the requisite 10% of my income away.

During this time of financial leanness, I just had to stand on God’s word. There are so many glorious promises around giving.

One of my favorites is Luke 6:38. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

This was the “manna” that was sustaining my faith. I knew it was true, but boy did I long for a big hunk of meat! Eventually I turned a corner, and now I can do or buy pretty much buy whatever I want without going into debt. Not that I have an extravagant lifestyle, mind you.

I’m pretty low maintenance. I think the little “miracles” God did to help me get through that time were also manna.

“Manna” in the Form of Small Miracles

I used to be a nursing instructor at a local college. One time, during this lean period, my printer broke down right at the beginning a new quarter.  I had to have a printer.  For a teacher, I would say a printer is indispensable. 

But I didn’t have the money to buy a new one and I sure didn’t want to put one on a credit card. 

So, I prayed that God would “heal” it and somehow make it work.  I called HP support and of course, it was out of warranty, and they wouldn’t even diagnose the problem without a $25.00 payment. 

The only free option was to go online and follow the written directions.  According to the instructions, the reason it didn’t work was because of a paper jam. But it didn’t have any paper in it. Nevertheless, after I went through all the steps to unjam it, it worked! Not sure why since it didn’t have any paper in it.

Does God Heal Cell Phones?

Then, at church a few days later, I dropped my phone on the concrete floor.  After that it kept shutting off and turning back on by itself.  And it wouldn’t charge. I brought it to where I bought it and they said that usually means the phone is shot.  I would have to buy a new one. 

And, I would have no choice but to put it on my credit card.  I didn’t want to do that. So again, I prayed that God would heal it. 

Then Seth, one of my adult sons came over.  I had the phone sitting on the counter trying to charge it, but it was making an annoying noise every 10 minutes or so. My son got irritated took the battery out and put it back in.  For some reason, that did the trick. 

After that it quickly charged to full capacity and worked like a charm. These are just a few small examples of the way the Lord provided “manna” for me while waiting for the fulfillment of His promise.

Surviving on Manna is Humbling

You long for the real thing, but right now, all you have is this promise to cling to. This is humbling, because while manna, or the promises of God may keep you alive (physically or spiritually), it’s not the substantive satisfying meat and potatoes of the real thing.

It’s humbling because though it may be all we need, it’s less than what we really want.

How Do You Humble Yourself?

When we humble ourselves by graciously accepting God’s provision, even though it’s less than what we really want, He’ll lift us up in “due time”.

He’ll do this by giving us the physical provision we really long for. The Israelites in the wilderness showed they were not willing to accept God’s provision. Or anything less than the real thing.

They revealed this when they rejected the manna. “They [the Israelites] spoke against God and against Moses, and said, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food [manna]!’”Numbers 21:5

God wanted them to humble themselves by accepting His provision for them in the desert. He wanted them to accept it in spite of the fact that it wasn’t what they were used to in Egypt. It wasn’t even the kind of food their bodies were meant to have.

But even though it wasn’t as substantive and satisfying as the real thing, it was His provision for the time being. “He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you” Deuteronomy 8:16. 

To be meek or humble means to “have an acceptance of all God’s dealings as good, and therefore without resisting or disputing”(Vine’s Expository Bible Dictionary of the NT).

If we are humble, we are accepting whatever way God is choosing to meet our needs at the moment. We are humbling ourselves if that way is not what we had in mind.

Why Should I Humble Myself?

But, Jesus tells us in Mathew 5:5 that the humble are blessed because they will inherit the earth. This verse is saying our inheritance will be, not just heaven, but also this on earth. And that’s essentially what our verse today tells us as well.

If we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, He will lift us up. It’s humbling to have to accept less than what we really want to meet our need. But we have to do it in order to get what we really want in the end.

So, essentially, our choice is to wait patiently for what we really want while accepting His temporary provision. Or, not getting it at all. Now, I’m not saying we always get whatever we want if we wait long enough with a good attitude.

All of this is prefaced on the idea that you are walking with God and want His will for your life above all. In this case, I do think He puts desires and dreams in your heart that He wants to fulfill. In His time. To read a similar post, see The Link: Heaven’s Dew and Earth’s Richness.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2022-2023 Anita Wood