6So humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand so that he may exalt you when the time is right. 7Throw all your worries on him, because he cares for you. — 1 Peter 5:6-7
I can’t resist mentioning how 1 Peter is one of my favorite books of the Bible. Folks who know me well laugh when I say that, because I have so many “favorite†passages, but 1 Peter is special.
One of our great weakness—no, let me be fully honest here—one of my great weaknesses is that I don’t like to go through all the processes that are required to get to a goal. I like to get there, and I like to get there now. I do hear the same sentiment from others, however. Why do I have to go through all these experiences? Why can’t God just make everything right and do it now?
Well, he could, but he won’t, because he loves me too much. I’m interested in my comfort. God is interested in my soul and in my character. I want to be exalted. God wants to make me a person he can safely exalt.
Notice the order of events in our text. You humble yourself, so that God may exalt you in his season. I don’t usually do Greek words in these devotionals, but many of you will probably have heard this one. The word I have translated “when the time is right†is kairos, God’s season or appointed time. I must humble myself indefinitely. The exaltation comes at God’s choosing. But in the meantime I’m under the mighty hand of God.
Being under the mighty hand of God is itself a humbling experience. Look again at verse 7. It’s a very comforting text. God cares for me. I can give him all my worries. Precious promise!
But my flesh rebels at it, because, deep inside (and sometimes not so deep) I don’t want to give God my problems. I want to solve them myself. I want to be able to look back and say, “Look what I did! It’s all me! I fixed it!â€
God says “No. Give all your problems to me. Humble yourself. Put things in my hand. When it’s time for you to be the glorious problem solver, I’ll let you know! When? Don’t call me, I’ll call you.â€
I experienced this in the early hours this morning. I woke up worrying. It was earlier than I usually get up. I won’t say precisely when, but since I’m usually up by 5 or 5:30 am, you can guess. I couldn’t get back to sleep. I was worried about a problem. Finally I got up and headed to work. On my computer, in the stuff I normally check first thing in the morning, was the totally unexpected solution to my problem.
My worrying about it, thinking about it, and planning solutions had done not one thing toward the solution. “Humble yourself,†says God, “and let me do the solving.â€
7Throw all your worries on him, because he cares for you. — 1 Peter 5:7
