The Benefit of Humility

 

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker of them all. The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life. (Proverbs 22:1-4 ESV).

 

Yesterday we explored the destructive nature of pride; today, I want to look at the benefit of humility. The rewards promised in our reading are detailed clearly. Avoiding pride is not enough. We need to lean away from it in favor of humility. C.S. Lewis put it aptly: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.”

 

Look at the second verse of our reading again. God makes both the rich and the poor. In this context, “rich” does not refer to having an extravagant life. Having riches, or wealth, means that when we are doing God’s work—that is, living God’s way—we can count on receiving everything we truly need to keep going.

 

And wealth isn’t the most important reward. Honor, a good name, is more desirable than great riches (v. 1). By humbly following God, we gain the respect of other good people, and we probably gain some respect from some not-so-great people also.

 

The most reliable reward of humbly following God is life itself. When we are humble enough to rely on God’s direction, it is amazing how many pitfalls we avoid. We avoid the problems that pride falsely convinces us that we can handle them ourselves.

 

When we are humble, we are amazed how often God helps us steer clear of trouble that we didn’t even see coming. When we are humble and we see or hear of someone’s folly leading to ruin, we learn to say, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” That’s because the unwise keep going right into trouble; they don’t have God to guide them (v. 3).