“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29
In the book of Isaiah, we find where the Lord tells all men everywhere, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways, My ways.” (55:8) What does this mean but that God’s ways and thoughts are not only different from those of men, especially sinful men, but higher than the heavens are from the earth. They are of another origin than those of men, and as such, possess a power of blessing and life that men’s thoughts and ways do not possess. It is thus, for the whole of mankind, to “…Be still, and know that HE is God.” (Ps. 46:10) It is also imperative to hear God the Father’s call, when Christ was on the Mount of Transfiguration and He said: “This is My beloved Son. Hear HIM!” (Luke 9:35) The call of God to mankind is to realize that the Creator and Redeemer of men has the words of eternal Life. Sinful man is not born with such words which can give Life to the lifeless and hope to the hopeless and helpless. So then, what are God’s words and ways, by which, if a man truly trusts Him, and obeys, will know the blessing of Christ’s presence, and the power of His indwelling life?
From the beginning of the Bible to its end, much is made of the greatness and goodness of the Creator, and that which is of great worth in His sight. It is thus the fundamental step of mortal man, in his search to know the Holy God, to humble himself before God, declaring that indeed, there is nothing good that dwells in the sinful heart, and that Christ alone has the words and power by which the gift of eternal Life by the Spirit can be received. To trust in any man, or thing, other than in Christ is to have chosen to worship an idol, an idea, speculation, or imagination that is not according to the truth where God is alone is Sovereign, and Christ alone is Savior and Lord. It is essential to see, and to believe who Christ is by what He has declared, and what He has proven Himself to be, the Beginning and the End.
There is another “way” of God that is essential to know if mankind would truly know Him. It is the way of “smallness,” “littleness,” meekness. Again, from the beginning of Scripture it is revealed that, as the Apostle Paul put it, “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.” (1 Cor. 1:27) He has done this so that “…no flesh shall glory in His presence.” (v.29) God alone is worthy of praise and worship for the revelation of all that is good, not only in the blessing of men, but primarily in the salvation of them. From the apparent insignificance of a stable in Bethlehem where Christ was born, to the coming of the Son of Man, having laid aside His glory to dwell among us, to be a servant, God bypasses the pride of men who glory in men and the things of this world. Lowliness and meekness made Christ accessible by all men who would truly seek Him, turning away none.
When a little boy presented five barley loaves to Christ as an offering, none of Christ’s disciples knew what He would do with them. Jesus took the basic bread, made of barley, the poor man’s bread, blessed it, gave thanks, and fed thousands. The glory belonged to Him.
When Gideon learned of a dream by an enemy where a barley loaf rolled into the camp of the Midianites, destroying it, God was speaking of the “lowliness” or “littleness” of Gideon. God would take him, the least in his house, and make him a deliverer of his people from the enemy multitudes.
Dear Father, Clothe us with lowliness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.