DaySpring Daily Word of Inspiration: 1 Peter 5:6 – Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
Today’s passage starts off with a troubling request. It’s not troubling to achieve, but troubling to hear when we desire to get to the next level in our lives. How do you know that has submitted to another’s authority and been able to get to a higher position or status because of it? Not many to say the least. It’s a scary concept when you try to wrap your head around it.
Although the natural reaction to such a request in our daily living would be met by defiance or a deliberate showcasing of one’s ability to be superior on their own, it shouldn’t be our response when we are a member of God’s family and kingdom. We want to be the “big dawg”, if you will. We don’t want to humble ourselves to others, we want them to humble themselves and bow down to us. Let’s put this in practical sense: if you never submit to anyone, how will you learn the necessary things you need in being successful, and more importantly, how will we develop the relationships we’ll need to sustain longevity and future successes? This is where we start for our devotional today.
God is the ultimate and supreme authority in heaven and on earth. When we submit to him and get under his direction, we acquire all of the necessary and pertinent skills we need to be successful in his kingdom and to do his work. It would be an arrogant thought to think we could ever “teach” or “show” God anything or believe that we can do better by ourselves than to have him as our coach and mentor in this life. Lord forgive us if we have ever even hinted at that nonsense.
Under God’s tutelage we are able to be made more perfected (in the sense we are being made to be better than we were without him and more blameless before men). The part we forget to recognize is that this process takes time. It is a marathon, not a sprint. We will never get it all correct or dead on, but incrementally over a lifetime, while submitting ourselves under the authority of God he will make us ready for various tests and stages in our lives in his right and perfect timing. We don’t know when we’ll be ready for the unseen and unknown perils of this life. However, if we give God a chance to equip us, we’ll be thoroughly able to conquer any situation we encounter because we’ve humbled ourselves and recognized our need for specific training in this life; that training is in his area of expertise and only he alone can make us ready to elevate passed these issues…if we let him.
Today we pray that if you’ve been banging your head against the wall and haven’t been open to anyone’s help, consider the one who can equip you with the tools to conquer any and all circumstances – when he knows you’re actually ready to do so! It’s in his timing and he is aware when you will be ready to be lifted up. The question now remains; are you willing to humble yourself so that when your time is right, God can elevate you to where He wants (needs) you to be? Think about it. Surrender today to the mighty hand of God, lest we be crushed by arrogantly thinking we could go against it. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Lastly, if you want more inspiration and encouragement in your day, be sure to check out our monthly newsletter “The DaySpring Voice” at https://www.dayspringcc.org/monthly-newsletters/.