02.04. Chapter 4 - Verse 10

James 4:10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. The apostle goeth on inculcating and pressing the same duty upon them; and lest they should rest in external exercises, he useth a word which more properly implieth the inward acts of the soul. Observe, from the context:—

Obs. It is not the outward expressions that God looketh after in mourning, but the humble heart. God, that is a spirit, doth not reckon so much of bodily exercise. Tears, and cries, and beating of the body may all be counterfeit, or else done without a principle of grace; and many times there may be inward humiliation where a dry brain doth not yield tears. Godly sorrow doth not always keep the road, and vent itself by the eyes. Papists place much in tears and afflicting the body. The spirit-work is the more difficult; old wine and old bottles may well agree together, but not new wine and old bottles. Duties that require much spirit and soul-acts are too strong for weak men. I allude to Christ’s expression concerning spiritual fasting, Matthew 9:15-16. Old carnal hearts cannot endure the rigour of such spiritual duties. Well, then, in your first duties see that ye do not only mourn and weep, but humble your souls. When ye confess sins, it is not words and tears that God looketh after, but a deep shame and feeling of the evil of your natures, iniquities of life, and defects in obedience. When you pray, look not so much at the outward heat and vehemency: the bodily spirits being agitated, there will be much contention and earnestness of speech; but see that the soul do reach forth after God by the tendency of holy ardours and desires. In the confessing of public sins, it is not the exact enumeration, apt language, but zeal for God’s glory, compassion for others’ good, holy desires of promoting righteousness, which the Lord looketh after. Ashes and sackcloth are nothing to the work of the soul: Isaiah 58:5, ‘Will you call this a fast, or an acceptable day to God?’ &c. In the sight of the Lord.—The like passage is in 1 Peter 5:6; but there it is ‘Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,’ &c. That expression implieth a motive or consideration to enforce the duty, but this in our apostle the sincerity of it. Observe hence:—

Obs. 1. That duties are then truly done when they are done as in God’s sight. The dread and reverence of God maketh the heart more sincere; so James 1:27, ‘Pure religion and undefiled before God,’ &c.; so 1 Peter 3:21, ‘The answer of a good conscience towards God,’ &c. In the presence of God would you make such an answer? So Psalms 119:168, ‘I have kept thy testimonies, for all my ways are before thee;’ there was David’s motive. Well, then, in all duties of worship remember that you are before God; there is a broad and pure eye of glory fixed upon you. You have to do with God, that ‘telleth man his thought,’ that discerneth your spirits better than you do yourselves. That is a right address which is described, Acts 10:33, ‘We are all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.’ Here we come to pray, to hear, to humble ourselves before God. The soul will have a double advantage by such thoughts; the work will be more spiritual, and more pure and up right. More spiritual: I am not to be humbled before man, but before God. ‘Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God on the frame of the heart,’ 1 Samuel 16:7. Will this satisfy God? ‘Is it such a fast as he hath chosen?’ Isaiah 58:5. So also more pure and upright. Whatever a man doth to God, he will do it for God’s sake: religious duties will be performed upon reasons of religion, not for custom and company, but for God, to God.

Obs. 2. The sight of God is an especial help to humiliation. The soul becometh humble by the true knowledge of God and ourselves: Job 42:5-6, ‘Mine eye seeth thee, therefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes.’ When he had a glorious apparition of God he vanished into nothing in his own thoughts. The stars vanish when the sun ariseth; and our poor candle is slighted into a disappearance when the glory of God ariseth in our thoughts. We see our wants in God’s fulness; the ocean maketh us ashamed of our own drop; and we see our vileness in God’s majesty. What is the balance dust to a mountain, and our wickedness in comparison of God’s holiness? Elijah wrapt his face in a mantle when God’s glory passed before him, 1 Kings 19:13. So Isaiah crieth out, ‘I am undone, I am undone, a man of polluted lips.’ when God showed him his glory, Isaiah 6:5. Upon any apparition of God to the faithful they were filled with a fear because of their own weakness and corruption. Well, then, it directeth us how to be humble in our addresses to God; get as large and comprehensive thoughts of him as you can; see his glory, if you would know your own baseness. Men are slight in duties, because they have low thoughts of God. They offered the Lord ‘a corrupt thing,’ because they did not consider he was ‘a great king,’ Malachi 1:14. The elders that saw God in his glory, ‘fell down upon their faces,’ Revelation 6:1-17. And he shall lift you up.—What doth this promise imply? I answer—It is meant of any kind of happiness and felicity; either deliverance out of trouble: ‘The Lord heareth the desires of the humble,’ Psalms 10:17; advancement in the world to honour, or any outward dignity: Proverbs 29:23, ‘A man’s pride shall bring him low, but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.’ Though places of advancement be slippery, yet the humble shall be continued and upheld. So for advancement in grace or glory: Matthew 18:4, ‘Whosoever shall humble himself as a little child, the same shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven;’ that is, have most grace and glory. Learn hence:—

Obs. That submission and humility is the true way to exaltation. It is often repeated in the gospel: ‘He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, and he that exalteth himself shall be abased;’ see Luke 14:11; Matthew 23:12. We are all by nature proud, and would be exalted; the way to rise is to fall. God gave us a pattern of it in Jesus Christ. First, ‘He emptied himself, and humbled himself to the death of the cross; wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above all names,’ Php 2:5-9. Well, then, would you have deliverance? humble yourselves. The lion spareth the prostrate prey. Omnipotence will not be your terror, but protection. Would you have grace? see more of God. He that is in the low pits seeth stars in the daytime. Would you have your outward station firm? the Lord will uphold the humble. Would you have the comforts of the Spirit and the preferment of grace? the Lord will ‘revive the spirit of the humble,’ Isaiah 57:15. You are God’s second heaven: ‘I will dwell with the contrite spirit.’ The world looketh upon humility as the way to make us contemptible; when we stoop, we think every one will tread upon us. You see in the vote and sentence of the promises it is the way to be exalted either in the favour of God or men. Lastly, out of all we may be encouraged to wait upon God with a holy humility and confidence in our low estate: Job 22:29, ‘When men are cast down thou shalt say, There is a lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.’ When all thy affairs ‘go to decay, thou mayest bear up on these hopes. In Peter it is, 1 Peter 5:6, ‘He shall lift thee up in due time.’ Wait God’s leisure, and the promise shall surely be fulfilled; only be humble, not only morally, but graciously. Gracious humiliation is a deep sense of our misery and vileness, with a desire to be reconciled to God upon any terms.