Ben Franklin once received a very useful
lesson from the excellent Dr. Cotton
Mather. In a letter to Dr. Mather’s son he
relates the doctor’s words: “The last time I saw
your father was in 1724. On taking my leave, he
showed me a shorter way out of the house, by a
narrow passage, which was crossed by a beam
over head. We were still talking, and as I withdrew,
he accompanying me behind, and I turning
towards him, he said hastily, ‘Stoop, stoop!’ I did
not understand him till I felt my head hit against
the beam. He was a man who never missed an
opportunity of giving instruction; and upon this
he said to me: ‘You are young and have the world
before you. Learn to stoop as you go through it,
and you will miss many hard thumps.’ This advice,
thus beat into my head, has frequently been of
use to me. And I often think of it when I see pride
mortified, and misfortune brought upon people by
their carrying their heads too high.”
So what happens when we carry our heads
too high? Just how important is it for us to
remain small in our own eyes? Does God think it
important?
In the dictionary the word small means minor
in influence, power, or rank: operating on a limited
scale: lacking in strength: of little consequence.
The word humble means not proud or haughty:
not arrogant or assertive: reflecting, expressing,
or offered in a spirit of deference or submission
<a humble apology>: ranking low in a hierarchy or
scale.
Remember when we first came into the
Church when called by God. For some of us, that
may have been a long time ago. The scales were
ripped from our eyes—we glimpsed the pearl of
great price. As we arose out of the baptismal tank,
the Babylonian culture dripping from our skin, our
bodies still smarting from the pummeling brought
about by a loving God that had brought us to this
time and this place; we were ripe and ready to
change and repent as advised in Romans 2:4. In
other words, we were brought low, where we felt
small in our own eyes. God knew we were ready
to begin the long road of conversion. We were
now babes in truth, young, inexperienced, fresh,
eager, and willing to listen. We didn’t feel like Bible
scholars or spiritual giants. We were small in our
own eyes, looking to God to carry us through.
We’re all familiar with the story of David,
called by God, the youngest of seven brothers:
a ruddy, handsome fellow, a keeper of sheep,
small in his own eyes. “Pity me, O Lord, for I am
weak. Heal me…” (Psalm 6:2, The Living Bible
throughout). “Save me, O God, because I have
come to you for refuge…I have no other help
but yours …” Psalm 16:1-2). “In my distress I
screamed to the Lord for His help. And He heard
me from heaven…” (Psalm 18:6). “Lead me; teach
me; for you are the God who gives me salvation…”
(Psalm 25:5).
We, too, as babes in Christ knew we needed
God. We, too, cried out to God to save us. We
were still walking low. But what happens over
time. We lose that freshness, that urgency. We
who have been in the Church for many years may
come to think we know the Scriptures pretty well,
lead a “Christian” lifestyle; in fact we might think
we’re all-around good people; going about doing
our good deeds, saying our prayers, serving the
brethren… we become not quite so small in our
own eyes.
Have we become complacent in our need to
cry out to God? Maybe we have forgotten Satan’s
devices. Oh, we may have convinced ourselves by
rote that we know them. We may admit there is
a devil, that he is doing evil in the world and that
he is deceiving others, but we’ve got ourselves
convinced we’re okay, we’re close to God. It can’t
happen to me, we might say! But maybe we’ve not
had Satan right in our face where there’s no denying he’s out
to destroy us personally. When we are deceived by Satan, we
don’t know we are deceived.
Let’s see what happened to King David when he was
middle aged. He had been walking with God since a teenager—
at least 35 or 40 years; just like some of us in the Church. I
am sure David was well versed; he knew the commandment,
“Thou shall not commit adultery.” So what happened? He
was now King over Israel; maybe he was feeling pretty good
about himself, convinced he was a godly man. Let’s face it, he
must not have been relying on God as he should have been,
otherwise he wouldn’t have fallen into that trap—committing
adultery, then committing murder to cover it up.
He did repent and had physical consequences for his
actions, but apparently this incidence with Bathsheba and
Uriah hadn’t taught him the full lesson of staying humble.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have later numbered the fighting men
in Israel. The scripture tells us, “Then Satan brought disaster
upon Israel, for he made David decide to take a census. ‘Take
a complete census throughout the land and bring me the
totals,’ he told Joab and the other leaders. But Joab objected.
‘If the Lord were to multiply his people a hundred times, would
they not all be yours? So why are you asking us to do this? Why
must you cause Israel to sin?’ But the king won the argument,
and Joab did as he was told…” (1 Chronicles 21:1-4). Was
David not aware of Satan’s devices? Perhaps he was, for in his
own words David tells us he knows the need for humility: “The
Lord is good and glad to teach the proper path to all who go
astray; he will teach the ways that are right and best to those
who humbly turn to him” (Psalms 25:8-9). David also knew
what it was like when the Spirit of the Lord departs from a
person. He had seen that with Saul (1 Samuel 16:14, 23).
Why then was he such an easy target, that Satan could, in
fact, deceive him. Hadn’t he been walking with God for most
of his life by now? We have to address the question—Is there
more danger when one has been walking with God over a long
period of time? Had David forgotten to stoop low when walking
this walk? Or had he held his head too high?
Where would we be today if Jesus had held His head too
high; had refused to stoop, or hadn’t taken seriously the very
real danger from the god of this world? We see from Jesus’
example that “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3-5). What did
Jesus have to do in order to endure His rendezvous with the
devil? (See Matthew 4:1-10.) Now if our Savior and Lord had
to humble Himself in order to overcome the devil and then
die upon the cross, what must we do? For a basic guide, see
Philippians 2:1-8. Not only did Jesus have to cry out to the
Father continually “with strong crying and tears” (Hebrews
5:7-9), He also had to humble himself by fasting. Jesus knew
He did not have the strength to overcome the devil on His own.
Should we expect to do anything less?
We too, in our long walk with God, may have forgotten
why humility is so very important to our eternal life. It was the
one characteristic lacking in the great archangel Lucifer; it
led to his downfall. It could be the one characteristic that we
lack also. Maybe that is why God reminds us: “Yet I will look
with pity on the man who is humble and of a contrite heart…”
(Isaiah 66:2). For as long as we are small in our own eyes we
will remain close to God. We will know we cannot get by for a
single day without crying out for His help against Satan (this
master manipulator of our minds and hearts). Humility keeps
us from being puffed up in our own eyes; thus it keeps us from
sinning against God. I bet Satan goes around looking for those
who are not stooping low. So, let’s remember to stoop low and
avoid getting our heads knocked off!
