Week 9--Humbling Ourselves

Read James 4:4-12

Naboth had a vineyard. It was right next to King Ahab’s palace. One day King Ahab decided that he wanted a vegetable garden, and he didn’t have a good place for it, so he told Naboth that he would give him a really good price for his vineyard. God had told Naboth not to sell his vineyard to Ahab because Ahab was an evil king so he refused to sell it.

We know the rest of the story right? (Read 1 Kings 21 for a refresher). Ahab goes home and pouts about the vineyard until his wife Jezebel promises to get it for him. Jezebel sets up Naboth for a crime he didn’t commit and has him killed, then she goes back to Ahab and tells him to get out his garden hoe and start his precious garden. When Ahab is out looking over his new garden, Elijah shows up and tells him that God is going to have him and his family killed because of his actions.

And then, King Ahab, the one that Kings describes as the most evil man ever, humbled himself in the sight of the Lord. He turned his laughter to mourning and his joy to gloom and God saw and He changed his mind.

What we see in Ahab’s story and in our own lives, is that “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17). God responded to Ahab’s humility and spared him death-by-dogs, but He did carry out this punishment on the rest of Ahab’s family. We are spared punishment because of Jesus’ sacrifice, and all that is required of us is a turning. If we turn toward Him, He will come to us. If we humble ourselves, He will lift us out of our gloom and mourning.

James’s audience would recognize the language of verses 7-10 as a description of coming to the temple to offer a sacrifice. Coming near to God would be, literally, coming to the temple. There would be actual rites of hand-washing and purification required before fellowship with God could be restored.

When I compare what was required of a faithful servant of Yahweh in the Old Testament with what is required of believers on this side of the cross, I am humbled. Jesus truly did the work for us, all that is left for you and me to do is believe—and even our ability to do that is a gift from God! I would like to think that being part of this amazing fellowship with God and recognizing that none of it rests on me would cloak me in humility. I should be able to relate to others as one who has received much and who has been forgiven much. But I don’t.

Instead, I leave my posture of humility and go sit in judgment over others. James’s readers were guilty of the same thing. Instead of recognizing our lowly places beneath the true Judge, we set ourselves above the law and judge others; we say bad things about them and we think less of them.

James wants his readers (and us) to live in fellowship with God and with each other. The only way this radical community can exist is if we live humbly, submitting ourselves to God and to each other.

If God's grace is big enough to move Ahab to humility, I feel like we might have a shot.

1. What other people in the Bible have a story like Ahab’s, an account where their humility caused God to lift them up?

2. Can you think of any requirements of worshipers in the OT that really stand out? (Think of some of the wild things in Leviticus you’ve read). How does being free from those requirements inform your life as an NT believer?

3. The NIV translates verse 4:11 differently than other versions, using the word “slander.” How is slander different from speaking evil against someone? Why might that one word make a difference when studying this section?