What I’m Thinking: The Humble God

We frequently sing of the majesty of God – but not so much of the humility of God.

Here’s a transcript:

I’m thinking about the second chapter of Paul’s letter to the Philippians (Philippians 2:1-13). This moment appears in a lot of Paul’s letters, a moment in which he urged his readers to be of one mind, to take care of one another, to set each others’ interests above their own. He told them to love one another.

He also told them to be humble. His example of humility was Jesus himself, that Jesus did not see equality with God as something to be exploited but that Jesus had humbled himself, taking on the form of a slave and even going to death on a cross. That was a death of profound shame in the first century.

Paul meant to inspire his readers to their own humility, and indeed I hope that he inspires us to our own humility. Paul also put his finger on an attribute of God that we rarely celebrate or discuss, and that is the humility of God. We talk about God’s greatness, grandeur, majesty, and power, and we see that in the world: in the world’s existence, and the glowing of the sun, in the sky, in those distant stars.

But God rarely intervenes in our lives in ways that are great and showy. Frequently when God intervenes in our lives we have to ask the question: “Was this God or was this something else?” — and resolving that question is rarely easy. God works humbly with us.

God worked humbly with Jesus, in Jesus, through Jesus; and God continues to be humble to this very day amongst all of us.

I can’t help thinking about that marvelous verse in Micah six: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and steadfast love and to walk humbly with your God?” How much more does it mean to us to know that as we strive to walk humbly with God, God walks humbly with us.

That’s what I’m thinking. I’m curious to hear what you’re thinking. Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below; I’d love to hear from you.