Spiritual Limbo
Obadiah 1:3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you dweller in the refuges of the rock [Petra, Edom’s capital], whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, Who can bring me down to the ground?
George Gordon Liddy, Watergate conspirator, was released from prison in 1977. Once he stated: “I have found within myself all I need and all I ever shall need. I am a man of great faith, but my faith is in George Gordon Liddy. I have never failed me.” Statements and attitudes like his crack me up. It’s like the clever vacuum cleaner salesman who closed hundreds of sales with this line: “Let me show you something several of your neighbors said you couldn’t afford.” In truth you cannot afford to NOT humble yourself before the Lord. But what does that look like or better yet what doesn’t it look like? James 4:7 begins where we all have to come to an end: Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. You can’t resist the tempter whose fall from Grace began with I will. If you refuse to be submitted and surrendered to God in obedience then you can be assured that you are most definitely not walking in humility, and you most certainly will not be able to resist the devil. It’s interesting that a similar thought is found in 1 Peter 5:8-9 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Many a Christian has lost the battle of seeking to resist the devil while failing first to surrender and submit to God in humility. Another passage used quite often here in America is 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by My Name will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways – then will I hear from Heaven…” True Biblical humility is accompanied by prayer that seeks the Face and Presence of God. True Biblical humility is accompanied by turning from wicked ways. Unfortunately this has been reduced to legalistic, moral formulas: “don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t chew, and don’t hang out with those who do.” Turning in humility to Jesus and His Word has a greater focus on what you Should Do than what you shouldn’t. Over the years we have learned ways to talk ourselves out of obedience to Jesus and His Word. For example, Jesus said, Go to the Nations and make disciples. I’ve have heard so many excuses for not obeying the Lord in this area that frankly amazes, and confounds me. (Paul called it the mystery of lawlessness – 2 Thess. 2:7) If I am truly humbling myself before the Lord I am going to seek to obey Him in every way that I am conscious and aware of.
Once I had someone state that they could attain God’s Perfection. To achieve this requires that you obey the Word of God completely in every way. (By the way: this is completely impossible. If it were possible we wouldn’t need Jesus – the only PERFECT sacrifice). Yet, although sinless perfection is impossible, we are not excused from seeking to obey Him in every way. This is called sanctification or set apartness. We are called to be set apart uniquely to God, or as Paul designates us: to be saints. To be sanctified, and saintly is to be holy. To be holy is to be uniquely different from everything that is considered normal, average, and expected. It is to be a cut above the rest. In other words, you stand out, and are distinct, and distinguished from others. Thus you could sum holiness up with another word, humility.
One more thought regarding humility: it is like the Limbo Dance originating in Trinidad, and Tobago. Just as the limbo bar is progressively lowered to the ground for its’ participants so humility grows progressively as you bend your soul before God’s Word, Spirit, and Grace. With each passing phase Jesus truly becomes your Petra – your unbending, and immovable rock – and to Him you can crawl and hide. As one of the smartest men in the Bible discovered and experienced: When I am weak then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:10)
Draw from the lessons of nature found in some Eastern proverbs: ‘A tree that is unbending is easily broken’, or as the religious classic, the Tao Te Ching states: ‘The hard and strong will fall, the soft and weak will overcome.’ In a nutshell this is Jesus’ teaching on meekness which simply means power restrained like the bridling of a horse.
