The Holy and the Lowly

Are you a humble person? Tough question to answer, right?

No one who is truly humble will point it out as one of their best traits. Humility, by definition, means we have a modest regard for ourselves—that we’d rather talk about others and give glory to God.

Yet it’s a crucial question: Are you a humble person? There is no quality of character more needed for a child of God than this: a lowliness of spirit, a meekness and down-to-earth attitude. Augustine once said it like this,

No one reaches the kingdom of heaven except by humility.

That’s a Biblical idea, like God says in Isaiah 57:15, “Thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit.’”

But where does true humility come from? It is fostered in us when we take a right view of God, and a right view of ourselves. When we see the glories of the Holy God we worship, when we admit our state of spiritual emptiness, and then we grasp how rich God has made us in Christ, then we can’t help but to be humble.

What makes God’s mercy so remarkable is the height from which God reaches down to give it. In that verse from Isaiah, He is introduced as “the High and Lofty One.” That God is lifted up and exalted doesn’t refer to a physical location, as if He resides on the top of Mount Everest or in a distant galaxy. For God to be “high and lofty” means He is in every way transcendent—more glorious than can be imagined, superior to all, supreme and unequalled in his greatness.

Looking up to this God, you know that you are lesser, smaller, weaker in every way.

But God speaks the gospel: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and with him who has a contrite and humble spirit.” Such a striking contrast: if the first half of the verse emphasizes God’s exalted character, then the second half highlights our low estate.

And here is the miracle: the holy God comes near! It says He lives among his people. Think of how God showed this in the Old Testament, living among his people at the tabernacle. Even the highest heavens cannot contain the LORD, but He came near in his sanctuary and lived with Israel so they could know and trust him.

From one perspective, it’s actually impossible. He dwells in unapproachable light, so how can we ever approach him? But though He needs us not, God makes it possible to live with him. Not by lowering his standards or by compromising his dignity, but God brings sinners near by making us like himself: holy, perfect, righteous.

This should be the most humbling reality of our life, how our salvation is an act of God’s free mercy. We depend entirely on him for this. We could do nothing, contribute nothing, ask for nothing—but holy God does everything. That’s humbling.

And God saved us through an act of self-humbling like none other. Though Jesus “was in very nature God, He did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant…And He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil 2:6-8, NIV). We are saved by his supreme act of self-emptying, even descending to the lowest place.

By Christ, the high and holy God is willing to be your God and to live with you again.

But here is God’s requirement: we must be humble. God says, “I dwell…with him who has a contrite and humble spirit” (Isa 57:15). God comes near only those who truly recognize their need for him, depending utterly on his grace. The gate into God’s presence is narrow, and the gate is also very low. The gospel calls us to get on our knees.

The humble are those who know they have nothing to contribute: not our own righteousness, not our own good behaviour or holy character. The humble are those who are oppressed by the burden of their sins—seeing how we have failed to honour the Lord and how we have failed to love the people around us. The humble are those who have tasted the weariness of life, and who know this world cannot satisfy. The humble are those who know that their rightful place is at the bottom.

Yet the LORD doesn’t leave his people as He finds them, in the basement or in the bottomless pit. For the high and holy God is full of grace in Jesus. And receiving this grace should have a profound double-effect in our life: it exalts, and it humbles.

Salvation exalts us, for God’s grace lifts us from garbage heap and into his heavenly presence. We become sons and daughters of God, righteous and holy.

At the same time, God’s grace humbles us. For now we admit our sins to him, acknowledge our guilt, and submit to the Father’s will. Part of that is walking humbly with other people: forgiving their sins, being patient with their weaknesses, seeking their interests ahead of our own.

That’s the kind of life that resembles the life of Christ: holy and lowly.

So are you humble? Have you been brought low, and will God lift you up? For He is the High and Lofty One, dwelling in the high and holy place, who lives with the person who has a contrite and humble spirit.