Falling On Your Face
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, I Peter 5:6 (NKJV)
God once spoke this statement to me: “If you will fall on your face before Me, I will make sure you never fall on your face.” What a profoundly true statement. This promise isn’t just for me, but for all believers. If we will submit to the Lord and remain humble, He really will exalt us and keep us from falling. We can either be humble or humbled. In the next verse Peter tells us how we humble ourselves.
Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. I Peter 5:7 (NKJV)
When we humble ourselves by giving our burdens and cares to Lord, we cannot fail. When God handles things, victory is guaranteed. However, we when we decide to try to take care of things ourselves, we often end up humiliated. We get to choose: humility or humiliation. God doesn’t want us to suffer humiliation, which is why He tells us to humble ourselves by casting our cares on Him. The J.B. Phillips New Testament version of this verse says “you can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern.” And the Amplified Classic rendition of this verse really gives us a good picture of the Lord’s love for us and desire to carry our burdens.
Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. I Peter 5:7 (Amplified Bible Classic Edition, AMPC)
Humility is not insulting ourselves or making less of who God made us to be. Humility is not debasing ourselves and saying we are nothing. Rather, humility is saying that without God we can do nothing, but with God we are winners every time. When we choose to lower ourselves before the Lord and allow Him to shoulder the load, we can be assured of victory. Once we do that, we can be exalted and promoted by Him.
When I tried to solve my own problems or follow my own path, that is when I have gotten into trouble. When we fail to fall on our faces before the Lord, submitting to His rulership and His way of doing things, we end up falling on our faces. Then, instead of private humility before God, we experience public humiliation. We make things harder than they have to be. Why would we try to fix things ourselves when we can give it to Him?
In every situation, go to God and give Him all your cares, worries and challenges. He will always provide a plan and a way to be victorious when we humble ourselves and go His way. If you fall on your face before God, He will make sure you never fall on your face.
