God Resists...God Gives Grace

March 4

“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble,” James 4:6.

Why? He is concerned with the right attitude of our hearts because it is the means by which we appropriate God's grace. In I Peter 5:5 the point is further clarified. Here the impetuous Apostle tells us to, “Clothe yourself with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

In another place the Word tells us that “pride goes before a fall,” Proverbs 16:18. In Psalm 56:13, David says, “You will protect my soul from hell and my feet from falling.” It is clear that our God wants to keep us firm in faith; He does not want us to stumble over the deception of the enemy or over the worldly desires of our own hearts. He wants us to be anchored in His eternal truth.

Proverbs 11:2 tells us, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” We see here that our loving Lord resists us when we entertain pride because it will lead to our ultimate disgrace. Conversely, humility is our bridge from the mundane prospects of worldly strivings to the achievement of heavenly goals.

Proverbs 29:23 explains the concept further: “A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.” Of course, the world in which we live and function does not concur with this perception of success and failure. The world’s method is to be filled with self-confidence, which verges on pride, and to ascend to the height of our desire on the wings of our own abilities.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 tells us that patience supersedes pride; that diligent application of effort toward godly goals will result in achievement that is beneficial to the believer as well as being pleasing to the Lord. Will our eternal goals be those of time? Hardly.

James 4:2 makes it very clear regarding the temporal desires of which He approves, “You want what you don't have, so you scheme to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't attain it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it.”

He tells us that our prideful yearning for power and possessions will drive us to sinful acts in order to attain them, but if we will submit our supplications to Him in faith, He will guide us into the righteous way of achieving all He wants for us.

What alternative does He offer to those of us who have gone our own way and discovered that the attaining of ungodly desires has brought us no satisfaction? What recourse do we have when we have spent ourselves on the acquisition of power and possessions that leave us still searching for the peace and satisfaction we thought they’d afford to us?

As with all things, JESUS is the answer to every need of man, and HE is the full supply. His coffers contain the wealth of the world; the cattle on a thousand hills belongs to Him (see Psalm 50:10). Though He does not need us, He desires us to serve Him with full hearts so we may receive the blessing of being in the center of His will.

Will He discard us if we pursue our own path, if we stumble and fall under the weight of our pride? No! The moment we return to Him in faith He will pick us up and set us on the path of righteousness. As we are told by the prophet in Micah 7:8, “…when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.”

There is always a second chance, there is always a fresh start, there is always hope, for the Lord our God and Savior loves us and desires His best for us. He will always restore us to Himself if we will but forsake the pride of our own way and walk in the grace humility claims for us.