Humble myself?
What exactly does that mean? It concerned and confused me because I didn't feel that I thought of myself more highly than others.
I was raised in a humble home getting the things in life we needed and not much else. I'm from a big family raised in a little town. I started working at 13 years of age as a waitress at the local YMCA (back when you could work that young!) and have never been one for fancy things.
My first car was an old Toyota Corolla that you could start with a butter knife!
Plus, I never finished college. I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life at that age.
So, I pondered this instruction from God and wondered what exactly it was He saw in me that He didn't like and I needed to change.
As I look back now, I know why I needed to humble myself. It wasn't that I thought too much of myself compared to others. The problem was I didn't think ENOUGH of who God is and who He is not.
He was the one with me 24/7 during the most difficult time of my life. He was the one by my side when I was alone. He was the one I cried to daily begging for help during my darkest hour. He never left me. He never forsook me. He loved me at my lowest and through the darkest time of my Christian life.
I couldn't have imagined thinking any more highly of God at the moment I walked across the basement floor at church that morning five years ago. He was in a very high place in my life. But during the season of testing that followed, He rose above ALL else. He took His rightful place in my heart, mind, spirit - my entire life.
How humbled I now am because of who HE is.
He is everything to me. He is perfect. He loves in a way that we can't comprehend. He parents His children in the most wonderful way. Teaching us the difficult things in life.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 1 Peter 5:6 (ESV)