When Humility Hurts

Humility..... it sounds gentle.......right? Like a quiet spirit or a kind word. 

But anyone who has TRULY pursued humility knows that it’s often anything BUT soft. 

It’s a breaking!

It strips away! 

It feels like heart surgery without anesthesia! ..... OUCH!

IT'S OFTEN BRUTAL! 

We pray for God to use us, to draw us closer, to make us more like Christ. But when He answers by exposing pride, self-protection, or even secret fears we didn’t even know were driving us.......suddenly we’re face-to-face with the real cost of transformation.

Humility is a fight!

Not a fight against others, but against the false parts of ourselves we’ve unknowingly built up or held onto for survival!  And....if you're honest, you know the one's I'm talking about.

-The need to be right.

-The fear of being overlooked.

-The walls we hide behind.

-The sarcasm we use to protect wounds we never addressed.

Can you add some things to this list?

Sometimes, God has to tear things down before He can build something holy. And that’s where many of us flinch. 

We want to go higher, but we don’t want to go lower first. 

We want resurrection, but want to skip the cross.

Break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you.  - Hosea 10:12 

Fallow ground is untouched, unplanted, and often hard. Pride leaves our hearts that way.....resistant, dry, and full of potential that can’t be reached.

 

But God, in His mercy, brings the plow. 

He doesn’t break us to harm us. He breaks us to make us fruitful.

Letting God humble you will cost you your image, but not your identity. 

                                                                In fact, it’s often where you discover it! 

Because when pride falls, freedom rises. 

You can stop performing. Stop protecting. Stop pretending.

Humility invites God into the secret places...and guess what... He brings healing with Him!

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. - 1 Peter 5:6 

There is an "exalting" coming. But it’s not the world’s version of exalting!. 

It’s peace. 

It’s clarity. 

It’s spiritual authority. 

It’s walking in step with Him, not striving to prove anything.

And what I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, how humility is BRUTAL.... well it's ALSO BEAUTIFUL!

Friend, if you're in the middle of a breaking... 

PLEASE don’t run from it! 

Don’t try to numb it!

Let Him finish the work! 

Because, contrary to what the world would want you to believe.....the other side of humility isn’t humiliation—it’s wholeness.