Is Humility the Answer to Being Blessed and Favored

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

Selfish ambition is why many of us are struggling to receive our blessings from the Lord. James shows us that humility can right the ship and lead to our blessing.

Introduction

Without humility, life can become a great struggle as we have the great desire to find happiness and joy. Many of us fail to realize that our craving to find happiness and joy comes from the soul. In order for the soul to be satisfied, one must turn to the Lord as only He is able to satisfy the soul.  This week’s Sunday School commentary will cover James 4:1-10, 13-17 as James focuses on selfish ambition, pride, ego, and how they block us from being blessed.

What Does It Mean to Be Blessed

Before we jump into this week’s lesson, I feel that it is important for us to first go over what a blessing is and what it means to be blessed.

To bless means to make one happy or satisfied. So, to be “blessed” means that one has been made happy and satisfied. So, we can think of this in a worldly manner in that there are worldly things that can make us happy. For example, eating a good home cooked meal that someone has prepared for you, we could consider to be a blessing. Going out buying things, or someone giving you a gift, could be consider a blessing. Yes, there are material blessings.

However, the problem with these blessings is that they are temporary blessings. In other words, one would have to repeatedly keep giving you material gifts or you have to go out and purchase gifts. The reason why is because that dinner we ate will only satisfy our stomach and taste for a short period. The gifts that you buy or receive will only make you happy for a period of time.

Happiness, or the blessing, that is of the flesh has a ticking clock before it sours and needs to be restored. Such blessings do not truly satisfy the soul as the soul longs for more than material happiness or worldly happiness.

The Struggle to be Happy

James 4 opens with James focusing on happiness, and he speaks of the struggle that many of us have in trying to be happy.

James asked, “Where do wars and fights come from among you?  Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?”  By “members”, James is essentially speaking about the “body”. So, one could consider that James might be speaking about the church “body”. However, as we dig into this scripture, we will see that James’ focus is on the believer as an individual.

Paul spoke of this same inner struggle in Romans 7:14-25.  Paul wrote, “For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do…I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”  

Paul desired to live for God; to lean on the Lord, depend on Him, and follow Him. However, Paul had an inner demon that he had to put up with that would always raise his head. “The demon” was Paul’s old sinful man, that was still present in him.

Paul often spoke of the inner struggles that he dealt with in many of his letters. For example, Paul had a great desire to travel to Rome and to minister in Rome (Rom. 1:13). This desire was a personal want, rather than a need (or true desire) that often went against God’s desire for him.

Paul was often blocked from going to Rome as he found himself having to revisit places to either re-teach or minister again to people drifting away in their faith. Paul often blamed Satan for being blocked from visiting Rome (1 Thess. 2:17-18), even saying that he had a thorn in his flesh that hindered him (2 Cor. 12:7-9). The truth is that Paul was getting ahead of God and found great struggle in doing what he wanted.

I believe that all believers fight the same battle: Our wants vs. God’s desire. As James put it, the one who chooses to live according to the flesh seeks to have but does not have; they also covet and cannot gain.  What are they are trying to gain?  Happiness.  However, the happiness they desire is of one’s wants and they seek in a manner that is not of faith.

James even touched on the idea of praying to God for such “blessings” (Jas. 4:3). “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasure.”

I believe all of us do this, misunderstanding what it means that God will give us the desires of our heart (John 15:7-8). God will not give you anything for your own selfish pleasure. God won’t give you anything if it does not glorify the kingdom. Again, the believer, in how we live and move, is to glorify the kingdom.  

Why Humility Is Needed?

One ought not go to God with such selfish wants because our wants are less of a blessing than what God desires to give to us. The riches of the world pale in comparison to the riches of God.  We struggle to be happy and blessed because many of us thinki we know what will make us happy better than the one who made us.

As James pointed out, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (Jas. 4:6).  This statement echoes what Christ told the people when He rebuked the scribes and Pharisees.  After warning the people not to do as the scribes and Pharisees because their actions were worldly, Jesus said, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Matt. 23:12).”

One who does not desire God’s treasures, but chooses their wants over His desires, is one who stands at odds with the Lord.  How do you think it will work out for you if you choose to be an enemy of God? Do you think that God will favor and bless you? Many of us aren’t blessed because our wants aren’t aligned with God’s desire.

So, to please the Lord, one must first humble oneself.  James said that one should “submit to God” (Jas. 4:7-8).  Submission iis one’s recognition of needing the Lord to truly be satisfied in the soul.  Submission means that one is choosing to yield their wants to live for God’s desire. In humility, the Lord will draw near to you, meaning you will be favored, and therefore, blessed by God (Jas. 4:10).

I know that Jacob famously fought with God, but we ought not make it a habit to fight with God. God named Jacob “Israel” after Jacob had fought with him. The Lord named him Israel because he “struggled” with God and with men. Many think of that name as honor, but the name Israel actually set the tone for a people who struggled mightily to walk by faith.

Israel immediately broke the covenant that they had made with God at Mount Sinai. On multiple occasions the Lord called the children of Israel a “stiff-necked” people, which meant they were a stubborn and hardheaded people. The blessing of the Promised Land was even delayed 40 years because the children of Israel were so disobedient.

Humility is needed becuase being hardheaded will only delay one’s blessing. We often feel that God is slow the deliver our blessing, but I truly believe that a lot of times our blessings are delayed because we aren’t ready to receive them.

The Danger of Pride and Ego

With that in mind, the lesson closes out with James encouraging one to recognize that God is in control (Jas. 4:13-17).  James instructed that one should not speak of tomorrow as if one knows what will come tomorrow.  The only thing that we know about tomorrow is that tomorrow is not promised.  Only one who is arrogant and foolish will speak of tomorrow as if what they will do, or what will come, is guaranteed.

James is still speaking to the worldly mindset and its pride and arrogance.  One’s trust must be in God when it comes to all things.  Sure, we may have an idea, or a hope, of what will come tomorrow, but again, we must put tomorrow in God’s hands.  

James was warning of the kind of arrogance that Pharaoh stood in while God was busy plaguing the land of Egypt.  James was warning of the kind of arrogance that Nebuchadnezzar had when he built the image of gold.  In both of those examples, those men were brought down to their knees by the Lord.

To be clear, those men certainly enjoyed “power” and “happiness”, for a time, but that time was short.  Our life is more than just the few years we have while occupying the earth.  If you think about our lifespan in the grand scheme, we are here today and gone tomorrow.  Yet, in that short window of time we will choose whether wie will be eternally happy or not.

James’ hope was that one would recognize their need for God in order to be happy in eternity.  My hope is also the same.  Sure, let us desire to be happy today but turning to the Lord.  In making that turn, we will not only be happy today, but we will be happy for everlasting life.