Opening Illustration
The Titanic offers us a good metaphor for understanding the concept of humility. Picture a passenger standing on the decks of Titanic. He appears to be small and insignificant against the back-drop of the massive ship. Then, as the Titanic begins her journey across the Atlantic, she herself becomes nothing more than a pinprick on the ocean’s surface. And if we then compare the Atlantic Ocean with the rest of our planet, and our planet with the rest of the galaxy, and our galaxy with the rest of the universe…I think you get the picture.
What are we in comparison to the greatness of God and the world He created us to live in? What is a human being compared to such limitlessness?
That feeling of being the dot on the decks of Titanic in the middle of the Atlantic is a glimpse of humility—the natural result of fixing our eyes on Someone far greater than ourselves.
Stories of Humility: Old Testament
Moses As Most Humble Man To Ever Live
“Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” (Exodus 12:3)
Moses experienced the greatness and power of God in more ways than anyone else in the Bible
Saved from death as a baby & raised in Pharoah’s household
Participates as God’s spokesmen with Pharaoh & experiences the plagues firsthand
Leads the Israelites through the desert for 40 years & experiences many miracles (Parting of the Red Sea, manna, quail, water from a rock, victory over the Amalekites, etc.)
Lives in intimate relationship with God & experiences the power of His presence (Pillar of cloud and fire)
Namaan Learning Humility
Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, ‘Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” (2 Kings 5:10)
Surely Namaan expected something more spectacular than washing himself in a river
He went prepared to pay dearly for his healing
In the end, Namaan experienced the awesome power of God’s healing in His life.
Stories of Humility: New Testament
John the Baptist
Grew up on stories of God’s miraculous power being displayed in his birth and that of his cousin, Jesus
Parented by humble people—Zechariah and Elizabeth
Sees the heavens opening and the Spirit descending on Jesus at baptism
Realizes that he is in the presence of the long-awaited Bridegroom
Response: “He must become greater, I must become less.” (John 3:30)
The Disciples
Witnessed the healings and casting-out of demons
Witnessed the miracles (walking on water, feeding the five thousand, raising of Lazarus from the dead)
Witnessed Jesus’s death & resurrection
Response: Empty themselves of all plans and desires for their own lives — So that they can fulfill their Kingdom purpose
Humility & The Gospel Message
Jesus saw God’s plan as higher and better than His own wants and needs
Jesus kneels down to wash His disciples’ feet in order to show them how to serve each other
Jesus begs God to take “the cup away from Him” but submits “Your will be done.”
Our Response: See the greatness of God AND the high value God places on us
Humility helps us to see the greatness and goodness of God
Humility helps us to believe the high value God places on us
Humility leads us to empty ourselves to be available for God’s plan
For Further Study:
Check out “Walk Humbly”: An 8-week study of humility.
Humility-Related WillowingWell Devotionals
