Humility

Dear Friend,
How are you? Hope you are well. Here today is the Lunar New Year day, and we have 4 public holidays in a row for it. I’m enjoying quiet Seoul, yet I went to a traditional market on Eve yesterday to feel festivity. It’s always joyful to see people sell and buy foods for this big holiday and be part of it.

On January 25th, I read Proverbs 25 and meditated verses 6 ~ 7:
Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king,
And do not stand in the place of the great;
For it is better that he say to you,
“Come up here,”
Than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince,
Whom your eyes have seen.

I used to think that we would need to humble ourselves no matter where. Then, last year or so, these verses came to me in a very different way. I used to think these words are for wisdom here on earth. But for the first time in my life, I came to think they are not only for here on earth, but King Solomon probably talked about what it would look like when we are in Heaven. In King Solomon’s times, king and prince might be president, vice president, head of administration, judge, and so forth in our times. But, seriously, chances would be very low for you and me to be with them in reality. Bible is a very practical book, but why would God say this to us through King Solomon, if chances are remote? One day, it came to me as if it talked about our standing in front of Judgement seat. Imagine that I lived with spiritual pride and self-righteousness here on earth and thought I would be in higher rank and sit on the throne on that Day.  There was a time when I was proud of my sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and of good works that I thought would please God. And I would think I would sit on the throne where the 24 elders in the book of Revelation would sit. But I could be put lower in the presence of many other wonderful and humble saints of God that I’ve seen on earth. I have thought I was better than them. I was more righteous than them. I was closer to the Father than them. I knew more than them. But, God said, “Do not exalt yourself. It’s better that the King say to you, ‘Come up here.’” I do not know whether I would correctly interpret these verses, but that’s how I read recently.

Earlier this month, I watched American President Donald Trump’s inauguration on the news. I learned that the inauguration ceremony was moved indoors due to extremely cold temperatures hitting the region. And I watched part of the ceremony where President Trump was surrounded by many well-known figures including ex-Presidents, billionaires, Presidents’ family and so forth. But, there was other room where crowds joined the ceremony live by screen. That inauguration ceremony came into my mind, when I read this Proverbs 25. I do believe that there would be some kind of ranks and different positions in heaven. Heaven would be absolutely massive, yet I believe not all saints would sit or stand in the place of the great. In all honesty, I would like to be nearer to our Father on that Day, and I would press forward to the upward calling and reward in heaven like Paul said. But, in my heart, I had pride. Being ordinary and obscure doesn’t mean that I am humble. I can be still prideful in heart, and God sees our heart. And I thought of cloak of humility in a Rick Joyner’s book, “The Final Quest.” How desperately would I need it? Indeed, I had self-righteousness and pride. But, these days, I often think of Psalms 131 and talk about it to the Father:
Lord, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.

Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me. (Verse 1~2)

Friend, we have righteous Judge Who knows everything. We wouldn’t need others’ approval. We don’t have to blow our horn, but we only need to humble ourselves and long to be Christ-like. Friend, I still think that our Lord’s living as a human for 33 years is far more humbling and greater than His sacrificial and excruciating death on the cross. I do not demean His death at all, but I think His birth in a human baby and living as a human is incredibly humbling, as if we had to be born in the form of a goldfish or a bug with our human spirit and mind. Our God humbled Himself for 33 years, but His heart was not haughty nor lofty. Friend, I pray that you and I may be like Him and like a weaned child with his mother.

Have a bliss!
Julie

So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:7~11)