Humility in God’s Presence

Job 42:5 – “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

In high school, I was literally the best student in my class of forty.  I got straight A’s every year from 1^st grade to senior year, making me the shoe-in for valedictorian.  Seeing that I was easily the best in high school, my head was so filled with hot air when I entered college that one could easily fill up the balloon that took Phineas Fog around the world in 80 days.  To my surprise, after the first few weeks of classes, I was struggling just to do well in all my classes, especially Calculus, my best subject in high school.  I was no longer breezing through the assignments, no longer flying through the exams, and certainly no longer jumping to the top of my class.  I quickly devoured my slice of humble pie and studied hard, seeing that in the large crowd of other valedictorians at a university, I was nothing more than another student.  By comparing myself to the actual standards of academic excellence, instead of just the ones that managed to put me on top, I realized that my pride was misplaced and that I needed to reevaluate my “highly honored,” self-proclaimed position.  Surely, we all have placed ourselves on some type of unmerited pedestal at one time or another, whether in athletics, academics, or any part of life.  We even see this take place in the Bible with Job, who probably did it unintentionally as he poured out his heart to God.

To set a short background for those who may not know who Job was, Job lived during some time after the Flood.  He was a righteous man who worshipped the one true God and was blessed materially and spiritually.  He would probably be considered one of the richest people in that region having flocks of camels, sheep, oxen, and donkeys.  He was blessed with ten children and was also well-respected by the people around him, being a person that others went to for counsel.  Most importantly, he was loved and praised by God, who even said, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”  God was proud of his servant Job.  Due to his righteous life, Job became the target of Satan’s wiles, who asked God if he could test Job’s faithfulness through trials.  With God’s permission, Job was tested over and over again, losing everything from his riches to his children to, finally, his health.  All the while, Job was faithful to God, never budging, except for the feelings of depression, discouragement, and heartache that Job poured out in his conversation with his friends.  It is in these conversations, that we kind of see some of Job’s pride creep out although probably unintentionally, as he rightly defended his righteousness.  He was so discouraged that at times he even sounded like he questioned why God took so long to punish the wicked.  He went so far as to challenge God to answer him, so that he would finally be able to just sit in silence, which is exactly what God did.  In the last chapters of Job, God responded by reminding Job of who He was – the Creator of heaven and earth, the Provider of all living things, the Judge of the evil and the good, and to sum it all up, the All-Powerful, All-Knowing, Omnipresent God.  It was at that point, that Job realized who he was in the sight of God, a mere human saved by the bountiful grace of God who was lucky enough to have experienced His blessings even for a season, and he responded likewise, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”  All Job could do, as righteous a man as he was, was kneel before the Lord and repent, for he knew that before God even his righteousness was but filthy rags.

This same response of humility occurred with almost every single person who ever saw or heard from God directly.  We see the immediate kneeling of Joshua before the Angel of the Lord (Joshua 5).  We see the inability to speak in the presence of the Lord by Isaiah (Isaiah 6).  We see the casting down of crowns by the twenty-four elders before God’s throne (Revelation 4).  The only response we can have when we see God and experience Him personally is humility, for in the presence of God, we quickly recognize how insignificant we are.  Even David proclaims in Psalm 8, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you visit Him?”  This knowledge should move us not to depression but to gratefulness, for as small as we might be, we are treasured in His sight.  As dirty as we might appear, His blood cleansed us and made us white as snow before His eyes.  As sinful and unteachable as we are, He seeks to use us for His service.  A disciple of Jesus Christ rightly recognizes his place before God as a servant but does not allow that knowledge to move him to ineffectiveness but to love.  He sets the standard of righteousness that God would have upon Himself and relies on the grace and mercy of God to reach it.  The next time you spend time in the Word of God, look to meet Him there as you read and when you find Him, repent in dust and ashes, seeking to renew your commitment to Him, who loved you and gave Himself for you.