1 Peter 5:5-7 ESV
“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
Humility is the opposite of pride, and pride is having too
high of an opinion of oneself and one’s own abilities and/or worth. Other words
for pride are conceit, haughtiness, vanity, self-importance and arrogance. Those
who are full of pride will not humble themselves before God, they will not
surrender their lives to the Lord to do his will, and they will not submit to
Jesus Christ as Lord and Master of their lives. So they will not die with
Christ to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, because they are their
own god.
So, if humility is the opposite of pride, then those who are
humble will have an honest and reasonable (correct) opinion (estimate) of
themselves based on the Word of God and on the holiness of God. For they
recognize their own sinfulness in their sin nature and of their need of the
Lord, and of their need to turn away from their sins to follow Jesus in
obedience. And they recognize that all that is good within them comes from God
and that they can only live godly and holy lives, free from slavery to sin,
because of God’s grace.
So God opposes (is set in a battle array against) the proud,
but he gives grace to the humble. And the proud are those who make it their
practice to hold on to and to live by pride and to not yield control of their
lives to God. But the humble are those who make it their practice to hold on to
the Lord and to his gospel and to submit to Christ as Lord and to obey his
commands. And so those who are prideful, in practice, God opposes, but those
who are humble, in practice, are the recipients of God’s grace and mercy.
So, on the basis of this knowledge and understanding it
should encourage us to humble ourselves before God (and before other humans),
and under the mighty hand of God, surrendering our lives to God and submitting
ourselves to Christ as Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives. And so we are to cast
all our anxieties on him and not take matters into our own hands, but we are to
trust the Lord with our lives and with our circumstances, and with the people
in our lives, too, believing that he has all things under his command.
1
Peter 5:8-9 ESV
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”
And to be sober-minded is to be serious-minded about God and
about his word, believing him and what he says, and taking the teachings of
Christ and of the New Testament apostles to heart, obeying them according to
the will of God, and according to their truth as taught in context. For so many
false doctrines are being taught from Scriptures removed from their context and
made to say what the Scriptures, as a whole, do not teach. So it is important
that we read them in their context.
We also need to be watchful, and we can’t be watchful if we
are not serious-minded about the Lord and the teachings of the Scriptures, and
if we do not take them to heart, and if we do not obey them, in practice. For if
our minds are not set on holiness and righteousness and on walking according to
the Spirit and not according to the flesh, then we are not going to be
watchful. For our minds are set on the flesh, instead, and so we make ourselves
vulnerable to temptation to sin and to yielding to the flesh.
And since we have an adversary (the devil, Satan) who prowls
around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, we must be people who
now walk (in conduct, in practice) according to (in agreement with) the Spirit
of God and not according to the flesh, or we will not be able to resist our
enemy when tempted. But if we are going to walk in holiness and righteousness,
and not in sin, we must be those who make it our practice to resist the devil,
firm in our faith, and who do not give him a foothold in our lives.
Now, not one of us is alone in this battle. First of all,
when Jesus walked this earth, Satan tempted him to sin, but he resisted him,
and he did not sin, not even once, which is why he was able to be our sacrifice
for sin on that cross. But he knows what it is like to be tempted of the devil.
And other followers of Jesus Christ throughout the world are also suffering
from the hand of Satan, not necessarily all in being tempted to sin, but also
in being persecuted and falsely accused and afflicted. So, we are not alone.
And if we are following Jesus Christ with our lives, in true
humility, and in submission to him as Lord, and in the forsaking of our sins,
and in walks of obedience to his commands, then he is with us strengthening and
helping us through it all. So even if other humans desert us, even others who
profess faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord will never leave and forsake those who
belong to him and who are walking according to the Spirit and not according to
the flesh. He will be with us every step of the way.
‘Til
The Storm Passes By
By
Thomas Mosie Lister
In the
dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face
While
the storm howls above me, and there's no hiding place
'Mid
the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry
Keep
me safe till the storm passes by
Many
times Satan whispered
There
is no use to try
For
there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope by and by
But I
know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise
Where
the storms never darken the skies
Till
the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more
Till
the clouds roll forever from the sky
Hold
me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand
Keep
me safe till the storm passes by
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_obOSQoOpQ
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