Humble Yourself and God Will Exalt You - 04/14/2024

James describes the attitude and actions of those who will humble themselves before God. He says God will exalt or reward those who humble themselves (James 4:8b-10).

In a spiritual sense, James is telling them to “cleanse your hands … purify your hearts.” He is talking to “sinners and double-minded” people. “Sinners” are those who are “devoted to sin.” They are “pre-eminently sinful,” living a lifestyle that is contrary to how God wants them to live.

“Double-minded” people waver in their faith. They are uncertain, having doubts about God’s message. They are divided when it comes to living their life. They desire to be a Christian, but they also want to be a “friend of the world.”

James tells those people to “be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.” James describes the inward emotions a person is to have when they realize they have not humbled themselves before God; when they realized they have violated God’s instructions and commands. They should not be taking lightly their disobedient behavior or making this type of lifestyle a joke. They need to take seriously their misbehavior before God and be mournful and not joyous.

James is not saying Christians should be “miserable” and full of “gloom,” but rather he is talking about our attitude when we realize we have violated God’s instructions and commands. We should feel badly when we become fully aware that we have sinned against God and have not been obedient to Him.

James does not close this section without giving us motivation for humbling ourselves. He says if we will “humble [ourselves] in the presence of the Lord,” then God “will exalt you.”

When we are willing to assign to ourselves a “lower rank” than God; a position of submission; to have a proper understanding of ourselves in comparison to God, then God will exalt us. The amazing part about this statement is if we will “submit” to God, then God will hold us “in very high regard.” God will “speak highly” of us. God will give us a “dignified” position. Our focus should be on what God will do for us when we are willing to humble ourselves in His presence.

God knew we would want to be recognized for our submission to Him. He understood we needed to be motivated to submit to Him, a submission out of love, respect and fear of Him and not that God was coercing us into submission.

When sinners and double-minded people willingly submit to God, then they will become Christians. They will be exalted by God because they are living God’s way. - cgm

Scriptural quotations from the NASB1995.