Day 214, Year 1 

Be Humble in Spirit

“It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly Than to divide the spoil with the proud.” (Proverbs 16:19 NASB)

As mentioned yesterday, God looks after the lowly. Whether you feel cared for or not, today’s verse encourages us to engage with the lowly with humility. There are at least two reasons for this. First, if you are a humble person who is cared for by God and associates with the lowly, you can invite others to receive His care too. Second, if you have yet to be under God’s care, you should associate more with the lowly. Since they might be under the Lord’s care, you can probably feel how He cares for them when you associate with them. Perhaps, from the lowly, you might find the secret to being cared for by God. In addition, among people who are unable to hear Jesus knocking on the door of their hearts, they are more likely to listen to His voice indirectly when they associate with the lowly, who are cared for by God. In my opinion, those who hear God’s voice and open their doors for Him are people who usually associate with the humble or lowly.

Contrarily, the proud share the spoils with the plunderers. What kind of picture does that paint? I believe that the proud and the plunderers are in the same spirit. For the proud are those who want to rob God’s glory or honor, they are therefore birds of a feather with plunderers. Plunderers desire to rob people. Like the proud, they covet what is not their own and take pleasure in stealing. What is the nature of plundering? It is to steal the grace that others received from God. They often know that they are not cared for by God and that it is difficult for them to receive His grace, so they rob others of what they do not have.

Comparing these two, the plunderers are only interested in immediate material gain, while the humble seek long-term spiritual happiness. The humble and the proud are usually led by two different spirits. Pondering on today’s verse, some might ask, “Why don’t those who have spoils share with the lowly? They are the ones most in need!” Yet, looking back at the thousands of years in human history, this hardly ever happens. Since the proud can encourage and plan for the plunderers, enabling them to plunder and gain even more, the proud and the plunderers have had a long-standing, tight association over the centuries. We should stay away from proud people and plunderers so as not to be defiled. However, if they want to repent, we can help them to first humble themselves before the Lord by stopping stealing.

Reflection questions:

1) Do you like associating with lowly or humble people? Why?

2) In what way do you think proud people can take the first step to humble themselves before the Lord?