“Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. 12And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,” II Chronicles 33:11-12
There is no greater way to break fetters than through humility.
“Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Mt. 15:14
It may seem very unsympathetic for the Lord to tell others to let the blind (He’s talking spiritually) fall into the ditch. However, the spiritually blind have the opportunity to get eyes to see, but many will desire to remain blind. An unrepentive heart leaves man with an inability to see. Pride blinds, humility opens eyes.
“Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.” Eze. 47:1
I thank the Lord for the countless times He brought me back to the altar. The altar is where it all started for every believer. It is the place in our heart where we surrendered our life to the Lord. Whenever we get puffed up, whenever we get self-sufficient and self-willed, we must get back to the altar. The altar is the place you go to, to exchange your pride for humility.
“Whereupon the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, The LORD is righteous. 7And when the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves; therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance; and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak… 12And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the LORD turned from him, that he would not destroy him altogether: and also in Judah things went well.” II Chron. 12:6-7
I am sure every sincere Christian wants to do great things for God. King Rehoboam doesn’t have a record of doing anything great, but he did protect Jerusalem from the enemy. He didn’t do it by military strength, He didn’t do it by round table discussions. He did it by humbling himself. It could be that some of the greatest things we will ever do for the kingdom of God is humble ourselves.
“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” I Pe. 5:5
There is something very wonderful happening at the church I pastor. First I will say that we are very blessed to have a good group of elder men (fathers) in our church that love God and are mature in the things of God. We also have a good group of young zealous men (sons) that want to follow after and know God more intimately. I am seeing something, I believe I have never seen really work like it should, happening amongst our brethren. The young men have come to a place that they see the elder men as a real blessing and encouragement in their life. The elder are to teach the younger, but sometimes it takes a while for the younger believers to discover the value that older saints of God can be in their life. Sometimes there is a shortage of godly elderly saints, and sometimes young believers are too proud to receive any wisdom and direction from others. There is often a lack of understanding from the church in general that we are a family and we should not be divided up into age groups and encourage generation gaps. But, when it is working like it should, it is a beautiful thing to be a part of. For the younger to submit to the elder is not meant for control, but for spiritual growth and blessing.
