Humility Before Honor
By Jonathan Friz
At the beginning of every year, I like to take time to seek God, listen to him, ask questions, and get guidance for the year ahead.
As I was in this process this January, the Lord asked me a question: “Who looks good right now?”
I knew He was speaking to me specifically about the Church. My first thought was “not many people.” In particular, many prominent leaders in the church are not looking good, even people who I continue to admire and hold in high esteem.
A Season of Humility
And yet, this observation that many of our prominent leaders “don’t look good” right now is just one of many ways the Church has experienced humbling over the past year.
· 2020 was proclaimed by many as the launch of a new era of “20-20 vision.” 3 months later our vision and plans were completely turned upside down.
· There were more large Christian stadium events planned in 2020 than I can remember. Almost all were canceled. The only large events that seemed to work in 2020 were either spontaneous or focused on repentance. In general, our plans and ability to plan were radically disrupted.
· Historically, the Church is amazing at serving in a crisis. Yet in this crisis we were not able to serve at all but told to “stay home”.
· Sunday morning worship, our weekly “main event” was canceled. Our ability to gather in general for meaningful fellowship and worship has been hindered. Our once full sanctuaries have been emptied or later “socially distanced”. Preachers used to speaking to thousands found themselves speaking into an empty room for the first time.
· Notable and respected prophetic voices in the church have had significant and public misses regarding the pandemic and the U.S. Elections. I can’t remember a time when the prophetic movement has experienced greater reproach.
· Significant leaders in the Body of Christ have had very public falls through sexual sin in the last 6-8 months. The substantiated revelations concerning Ravi Zacharias who was universally held in high esteem were perhaps the most difficult to process.
· Political statements from leaders in the evangelical church on both the left and the right have created division, an urge to distance ourselves from one another, and finger pointing. Politicization in the church and in our own hearts has been exposed in the US by a contentious election year.
I’ve chosen to focus on large trends but humbling has touched each one of us. You’ve experienced your own conflicts, depression, anxiety, illness, fear, isolation, anger, lack, and weariness in this past year. Somehow, someway, we have all been humbled. Why is God allowing us as His people to be “brought low” in this way? More generally, why is God disrupting our plans and allowing our flaws to be revealed publicly before a world that is all to ready to mock and humiliate us further?
Humility before Honor
Proverbs 18:12 says: “Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty, and before honor is humility.”
We probably all know that Pride goes before a fall—that the arrogant end up heading to disaster and destruction. Less well known, but equally important is to understand that Humility comes before Honor. To put it another way, God prepares the righteous person to receive honor by bringing them through a humbling process. This process includes elements that are voluntary (humbling ourselves) and involuntary (being humbled). Without this process, without humility coming before honor, the righteous would find themselves falling into the “Pride trap” where presumption and arrogance lead to a fall.
Think of your major Biblical characters…Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Jesus. Did they not experience humility first before honor? This also works at the corporate level. Think of Israel’s History—it was slavery, then the wilderness, then the Promised Land. This is not an accident, but rather a principle of the Kingdom that’s always at work. As the Scripture also says, pointing out the same dynamic, those who exalt themselves will be humbled, but those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Prepared for Honor
Why is the Church going through a humbling process? Has God removed his love from us? Not at all—Scripture teaches us that the Father loves us just as He loves His own Son (John 17:26)! Just as the Father loves to honor the Son, He also loves to Honor His people (John 17:23). It’s his delight and glory for us to be incredibly fruitful as we follow Him (John 15: 8).
God wants to see stadiums filled with new converts. He wants to see sanctuaries overflowing with vibrant believers. He wants to see our world and political systems aligned with the Kingdom of Heaven. He wants revival and awakening. He wants there to be accurate prophetic ministry in the church. He wants His Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. In short, He longs to share His favor, blessing, and honor with His people.
Why is God humbling the church over the past year? I think it’s in preparation for great favor, blessing, and honor on the Church.
While I believe that God is preparing the church to receive a greater measure of His favor, our ability to receive favor and honor from God is dependent on how we navigate times of being humbled.
Over the next several weeks we’ll be looking at how we can respond to God’s humbling, and how to respond Biblically in humbling situations and circumstances.