1 Peter 5:5 Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” Mark Twain
“People never learn anything by being told, they have to find out for themselves.”
― Paulo Coelho, Veronika Decides to Die
I was raised in the Middle West, where we were taught to respect our elders and never to address an older person by their first name. But when we moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1983, we entered a world that demanded a whole different level of respect for elders. Children reared in the American South were taught to respond “Yes, Ma’am,” “Yes, Sir,” or “No, Ma’am” or “No, Sir.” Titles were extremely important, and no properly reared child would dream of calling someone older by their first name; in fact, there was a lot of use of honorifics. “Mr. Skaggs ” ,“Miss Geraldine”, “Uncle Lester”, “Aunt Leticia.” And this honoring of elders also carried over into respect for the opinions of elders. Any young person demonstrating a lack of respect was apt to get the “stink eye” from his mamma, his grandma, or his auntie!
These days, submission has come to assume bad connotations; however, Peter is beginning an explanation that will lead to a very important point. Remember the Roman centurion whose servant was sick? The centurion recognized that Jesus had authority and informed Jesus that he too was a man under authority and a man who had authority over others. The centurion could exercise authority because he submitted to authority. And it was this respect for authority and this faith that led to the miraculous healing of the servant.
Those who are unwilling to submit to human authority will also refuse to submit to God’s authority. Remember that Peter earlier urged us “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to the king as the supreme authority, or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.” 1 Peter 2:13 – 14
Clothing yourself with humility does not mean that you must become a doormat! You do not have to check your brains at the door as if you were checking your coat at some function. But clothing yourself with humility means that you are willing to listen to others and to accept the possibility that others might know more than you do or have a different perspective on a situation. And clothing yourself with humility allows you to be quiet and listen to God.
Have you ever attended a prayer meeting where you felt that people were more interested in ordering God around than they were listening to God? It happens too frequently. While the Bible does encourage us to let our requests be made known to God, nowhere in the Bible does it say that God is deaf or that we must scream at him to be heard. If we don’t stop and listen to God, we might miss something drastically important! What if we are asking for the wrong thing or for too little? Perhaps God wants to give us something far more magnificent than that for which we are asking; meanwhile, we continue to shriek our demands for something small.
Why does God oppose the proud but give grace to the humble? Those who are proud have set themselves up as little tin gods. Their very pride blinds them to the magnificence of the Creator of the universe who spoke everything into existence. God does not oppose the proud because he is hurt or upset; God opposes the proud because He is God and they are not. It is as if someone decides that he wants a mountain to move and begins kicking rocks at the foot of the mountain. The only thing that will happen is that the person will get a sore foot!
When we clothe ourselves in humility, we protect ourselves from attacks of the devil. And we will talk more about that tomorrow.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for your grace and mercy. Please forgive us when we forget that you are God and that we are not. Help us to humble ourselves and to trust you in all things. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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