God restores the humble

Introduction

There are lots of lessons to be learned in many place in the bible and life. We will be spending the next several weeks going through prophecies in the Old Testament just like last week. All of these prophecies were spoken about Israel and about God’s goodness. Each week we will focus on something we can learn about God by learning from these prophets.

If you recall a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned being reminded by God to have a spirit of humility rather than a spirit of pride and ego about me. Today’s passage is also about how God restores the humble.

I went hiking again yesterday because of the nice weather and the changing leaves. It was beautiful and perfect for hiking. So many trees were changing different colors. There were also several moments were when the wind blew there was this effect where the leaves were falling around us like snowfall. The leaves drifted slowly on the wind to the ground. For some things, pictures and words will always fall short in really describing what we saw all around us.

While I was relaxing in a hammock beside the creek and trickling waterfall, God spoke to me about seasons.

Fall is a time of year of changes. It is a time of transition from the time of year when growth is coming to an end. While the leaves turn pretty colors, after a little while everything is bare Everything changes to dead or dormant. Isn’t this the same with seasons in the church? We have seen periods of growth, periods of change, and periods where things decline or seem dormant.

Joel speaks a message of hope to the Israelites who have seen their nation destroyed and the people have been exiled. The Israelites have lost their homes, their lands that produced food and a land full of growth and opportunities. God still remembers them. God will provide growth for them once again. God will even pour out his Spirit upon all people so they may know his goodness. They will once again find hope in God who will cause them to dream dreams, to have visions of hope. While things around them may still seem dark, God is speaking a message of hope that God is with them and will save them.

We too can find hope in this passage. While fall may be a season of change, hope is still possible with God. God has poured the Spirit into those who humble themselves before God and place their faith and hope in God who will save them.

Our own Exile

We as a nation and we as a community sometimes can become prideful. As I was reading a devotional, the author pointed out something that we too often do. In the parable where Jesus taught about the two people praying, one was a Pharisee who had contempt for all others and thanked God he was not like all these other terrible sinners. The other person was a tax collector who beat his chest in penitence and dared not even look up towards God because of his humility before God. The devotional author mentioned the same typical things we learn about this passage about not being confident in our own righteousness but being humble before God. Towards then end though, they mentioned one pitfall we can easily fall into is praying to God thank goodness, I am not like that Pharisee. They pointed out this goes directly against what Jesus was teaching and in a sense we become just like the Pharisee in that moment.

Being honest with everyone for a moment, I think we often fall into this trap. We look at all the sin around us and we become disgusted with it and the people living in it. We thank God we have not been lost like they are in such depravity. We thank God that we don’t sin like they do or not even tempted to do so because we strive not to sin instead of being like those who embrace sin.

When we become prideful like this, I can’t help but wonder if we end up moving ourselves away from God. God humbles those who exalt themselves. If you keep comparing your sins as not as bad as others or you think you are better than other sinners because you don’t sin like they do, then plain and simply, you are just like the Pharisee and God will humble you until you see it for yourself.

Our Own Redemption

While we may experience shame or periods of decline, this does not mean God will simply leave us here in those valleys of despair and darkness. God exalts the humble. When we humble ourselves before God and learn to live humbly with our neighbors, perhaps we can find new growth and new seasons of hope.

Once we examine ourselves before the Holy God, we realize we fall short of who we should be. Staying in a humble state does not mean self-deprecation where we speak negative things about ourselves constantly. Staying humble means keeping in the back of our minds that we are a work in progress just like everyone else around us. While we may have different struggles, in the big picture, we still fall short no matter who or what we may try to compare ourselves to.

God may humble us for a while but we don’t have to stay in a place where we don’t see and experience God’s goodness. By humbling ourselves before God today and confessing where we have fallen short, we may ask God once again to remove the shame and guilt that sin has put over us. We may once again see our neighbors and just as worthy of God’s love, mercy, and grace.

Where it gets exciting is once we as a people do this, God’s Spirit begins to cause us to dream dreams and have visions of God’s future for us as a people. While we may see evil and destruction around us, we do not lose hope because of these things anymore. We fully place our faith and hope in God to restore and preserve us.

Let today be the first step towards that hopeful future. Amen!