True Humility

 

5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

 

Humility and Arrogance

"God gives grace to the humble." This means that God gives us freely all the perfection of God which was promised through Jesus the Mediator. 'Gives grace' means to give us all that was promised freely without charge. It also means that God fights against the proud.

 

Then who is a humble person? Is a person humble if he bows to others in servility? No. Is a pacifist humble who tries only to please everybody? No. Simply put, being humble is being in a right connection to the Lord. The Lord is our life. Let us take an example. A chicken is alive when its head connected to the body, but it is dead when the head is disconnected from the body. Man and the creatures are alive when they have a right connection to the Creator, and the fullness of God will be given all to them freely as long as there is a right connection.

 

'God is opposed to the proud' means that anyone who is disconnected from God is inevitably to fight and struggle with God, which will result in annihilation of the weaker of the two, God or the person. Is there anyone mightier than God? No.

 

Immediately after it is beheaded, the chicken would take one or two more steps through what strength is remaining before it collapses. The same is true of man. Man moving while not connected to God may do by himself, or may do together with a race, a nation, or science, but whatever man does together with anything, with his relationship to God being severed who is the prototype, is like a chicken the head of which has just been severed. What he is doing may be rampant but is to collapse soon. This is said here. "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." This word alone is sufficient for you today the Lord's Day as today's portion of grace.

 

"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another." 'To clothe oneself' means to become strong and healthy―"Give up the corrupt way of becoming strong and healthy by preparing yourself with science, knowledge in the world, or recognition of people." "Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another." Nothing can make us assured but the connection to God. All the other things are like what are beheaded.

 

However confidently atheists may claim and scientists may clamor, the eyes of the Holy Spirit perceive that, "That beheaded body is raging and running powerfully, but will soon die with its limbs stretched." Here the eyes are those of the ones anointed with the eye salve of God. Eye salve means the word of truth of God, and what is understood according to the knowledge of the word.

 

Therefore, "humble yourselves under the hand of God, since the Lord is mighty." This means that we ought to try to belong to Him to have a connection to Him.

 

"He may exalt you at the proper time." It is no problem for God to endow us with money or power as long as we are worthy of the blessings. God once made governor of Egypt out of a prisoner and chief governor of Persia out of a captive. It is no problem for God to give us what can be used and utilized as blessings since He rules with omnipotence. However, it takes time to make us worthy of blessings. "He may exalt you at the proper time." "Casting all your anxiety on Him." Today I intend to testify simply about casting.

 

Types of Anxiety

"Casting all your anxiety." Anxiety is expressed in two ways, or types―either we are anxious about a thing to make it good, or we are anxious about a thing to avoid its going wrong. Since it is said that we should cast all our anxiety on the Lord, we should consider types of anxiety with which we wish to make a thing good and to avoid a thing from happening.

 

How many types of anxiety can we think of? Summarizing types of anxiety, we can enter it as the greatest anxiety to avoid an aberrant relationship between God and us. For us as an individual the greatest anxiety is the concern about the relationship between God and us; "I am anxious about as how to find favor in the sight of God, as how to make Him pleased with me, as how to make Him treat me favorably, and as how not to be offensive to God."

 

This worry is the most serious one, but atheists will not bother to worry about it. They do not know about the greatest worry that man must harbor. Then what consequence will there be for them?

 

First, anxiety about our relationship to God is the most important.

 

Second, anxiety about our relationship to all men, who are close to us, far from us, our allies and enemies.

 

Third, anxiety about ourselves. The world is full of incidents in which one ruins oneself. Then we should worry about whether we do not do ourselves harm, whether we do not miss a favorable chance, or whether we do not treat ourselves wrong. Anxiety about ourselves will be the third.

 

Next, anxiety about events. Events will happen in hundreds of occasions, tens of hundred or tens of thousand, so that we cannot count them one by one, but we see various events, person-to-person, physical, controversial, or international. We have anxiety of events.

 

Also we have anxiety about all material things, and we have anxiety about what to manage and how to manage. Roughly speaking, these are types of anxiety which we have. Even a single intention of mind can ruin not only a man's whole life but also the following generations; then why should we live without worry? We do have worries.

 

Analyzing anxiety or worry, we see anxiety about ourselves as what to do to ourselves, anxiety about all our possessions, anxiety about all behaviors, anxiety about our life time in the world, anxiety about standing before the judgment seat of God after we leave the world, and anxiety about the life in the eternal world; all these are worries of soul and body. We see so many kinds of anxiety.

 

With Man It Is Impossible

We have seen that we as man have so many types of anxiety, but not even one of these can be solved to our satisfaction. We must know this.

 

Men keep claiming confidently until they reach forty or fifty, that they solve their worries with ease and that they overcome their problems effectively, but what they will have done will prove to be all committed awkwardly. We ought to have wisdom to see and understand this.

 

When everything of a person is accomplished with ease and success, it is assumed that worries surrounding him are solved; in fact everything will have been destroyed. This is why it has been concluded as, "What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun?" A worry should be solved only to one's advantage; what does it profit a man to solve problems to his disadvantage?

 

God has assigned the position of man, though he is lord of all creation, to be such that he can solve not a thing but only gather things to be condemned. God has set the world such that God solves all anxiety of man, and man rules to solve all anxiety of matter.

 

Unaware of this, man wills to assume to solve such numerous worries, which is described as, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden."―"You are laden with unnecessary burden. You are assuming responsibility which is beyond your capability, and all that you are committing is only for the worse. Therefore come to Me. You are too proud to be aware that God will give you everything of grace when you come to Jesus, the Mediator for man, to be connected to Him."

 

To Be Prepared To Be Solved of Anxiety

"Because He cares for you." Now the Lord says, "Commit all of those many worriers to Me, leaving nothing uncommitted. Commit all to Me. I will treat well everything about your anxiety." "Because He cares for you." The word 'care' is not as vague as it seems. Care means to be responsible. "When you commit all to Me, I will be responsible for you."

 

The Korean language has not yet fully developed to register a large vocabulary. I personally suppose that some words in a more developed language will be difficult to translate into Korean. Hebrew and Greek, less developed than Korean since they are relatively ancient, have a smaller vocabulary, so that a word in the languages will imply many meanings, which have individually and separately developed into many words in modern languages. In other words, many meanings that are separately contained in different words in a modern language are included in a single Greek or Hebrew word.

 

"Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He will be responsible for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith." We might think that obeying the word in this passage seems to make it difficult to believe in Jesus. But in order to see that it is not so, think in terms of everyday affairs in the world; victory presupposes struggle, struggle which determines a victor presupposes training and discipline which in turn cannot function without all preparations.

 

"Even what belongs to the corruption in the world, which will last for a while and cease, requires considerable capital such as hard work and rigorous toil; do you suppose that you need not be equipped with those steps?"

 

"Did He not say that He gives everything of grace? 'To give everything as grace' means that it is given to you as grace because you cannot pay for it. Then since it is clear that you are not eligible to receive grace, you must devote all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength, all your temperament, and all that you have, to receive what is given as grace, or freely."

 

"Then He will give you the treasure. On the other hand, He will not give you if you in your passing heart desire anything but the grace of Jesus, or if you desire the grace just once in ten days or once in a day when you have leftover time available to recall the grace only after you have spent all of your time on what your own desire dictates."

 

"Even though you are not eligible, you will be given the great thing for free when you devote all that you have. Still, all of yours devoted is worth less than a billionth of the eligibility; what is given of grace does not mean that it is given freely because it is cheap and worthless." This is said here.

 

Therefore, we must devote all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, all our mind, all our temperament, and all of ourselves, to receive the grace of the Lord. Also is it not said that we cannot be His disciple unless we give up all our own possessions? Is it not said that we must deny ourselves and follow the Lord?

 

Is it not said that we must love the Lord more than ourselves, our soul, our family, or anything in the world? 'To take our cross and follow Him' means that we must obey the commandments of the Lord and follow even to risk the suffering of death. Does all the truths of the Scripture not say like this? Where is it said that the Lord will give otherwise? Let us not be silly.

 

About Committing

"Casting all your anxiety on the Lord, because God cares for you. The Lord will be responsible." Now I will talk about the committing briefly. What do we commit to the Lord? "I have a worry about myself. Please take me or this worry about myself, and handle it well." Also we commit our affairs to Him. "I will not commit myself, but I want you to undertake an affair of mine which just fell on me." Or, "I will not commit this affair to you, but I would like you to provide me with necessary proverbs and advice for reference."

 

Some of us will commit themselves to the Lord, or worries about themselves to the Lord; some will not commit themselves to the Lord, but they will commit business which they manage; some will not commit their business entirely, but they will commit only a part of their business, for instance in housing, demolition of the house or construction of the house, and, for instance in duration, commission for several days or commission for eternity.

 

In hospital, some commit their body to doctors only for a specific disease and its treatment; some commit their entire body―"I do not know much about my body, and I want you take a general test of my body to treat me and thus I want you to be responsible for my health."

 

Once we who are unable to assume responsibility for ourselves commit ourselves to, say, a doctor, what should we do? Should we not do as our doctor tells us to do? We should skip meals if our doctor tells us to skip meals, we should have meals if the doctor tells us to, we should rest in bed if he tells us to, or we should exercise if we are told to.

 

There may be some others intervening in the middle of the treatment, saying, "It does not seem to be a good idea for you to entrust yourself to this doctor, since your clinical condition is deteriorating." Then we, the patient, may change our mind and say to the doctor, "I have committed my illness to you, but I want to withdraw my commission from you. Now I am cancelling my contract with you." The contract may be voided entirely. On the other hand, we may not be dissuaded by others, saying, "I am not buying your advice. I will commit my disease to my doctor even though my condition is worsening." Thus we see that the degree of committing varies from person to person. There is not a single human being to whom we can commit ourselves. That is the law, and the way it is.

 

What One Should Do Who Has Committed to the Lord

The Lord is perfect who created us out of nothing and worked the vicarious redemption for us. Then, if we have committed ourselves to Him, no one but He should be free to do anything to us. If we have committed a part of ourselves, say, our body, then no one but He should have freedom to treat our body. The Lord is the only one to have the right to do this or that about our body.

 

If we commit an affair of ours to the Lord, we should do from now on as He leads us to do, as He tells us to do, and as He bids us do. But if we, the saint, say, "This will not do," He will say to me, "Now that you have committed this to Me, do not say a word, and endure it as I am doing this to you." Nevertheless if we further say, "I am too much worried to commit this to You any more," then our commission to the Lord is cancelled that very moment. It is exactly the same as this. To commit something of ours to the Lord means that we do not interfere regarding it in any way, and we do not assume any responsibility or right regarding it.

 

When many others come to us to say this or that and we are swayed to say, "Now I am getting worried a bit," this means that we have not committed wholly to the Lord. Further, following others and expressing our concern, "Surely I am worried now. I will not commit this to the Lord," this means that we will not follow His measure and we have refused Him. This is when the commission to Him becomes null.

 

Therefore, whatever of ours is committed to the Lord, the Lord should be given the full right on that; if His will regarding that is checked, He is not completely committed of that. If we oppose His dealings, we are retrieving what we have committed to the Lord. On the other hand, if we have committed a thing to the Lord, not partially but entirely, and it has been crushed and ruined completely, He should be responsible for what has now apparently perished.

 

To commit something to the Lord can be various in terms of time or degree, and for our part to wait can also be different in degrees until the outcome of what has been committed appears. An extreme case is when the thing committed to Him is completely ruined in human eyes; it is the way of the cross that He will be responsible for perfecting what has been apparently destroyed.

 

Therefore, He should be in charge of what we have committed to Him without our being involved in it. Also once having committed to Him, we must not waver in what we have committed by thousand or ten thousand people saying that something must be wrong about the matter. If we make more of what people say than what the Lord says, then we are retrieving what we have committed to Him. On the other hand, if we make more of Him than all the people under the heaven speaking evil of Him, what has been committed will not be shaken.

 

When a case of affair is committed to the Lord and the Lord tells us to respond this way or that way and do this or that, there is a part which we must perform, to this or that extent. If we do not conform to His instruction and do not obey Him, He cannot fulfill what we have committed to Him. "You are saying to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' but what can I do now that you are not doing as I tell you to do," said the Lord.

 

How Much Do I Commit to the Lord?

Therefore the world is where it is decided whether all of our reality and life which we encounter is committed to the Lord or not, and the world is where how much and to what extent it is committed to the Lord. The important point is that even though, after we commit all to the Lord, all men try to make us doubt Him, we must not doubt to waver about the thing committed to Him, falling into temptation of the devil and men. That is why it is said here in the passage, "The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

 

We should not vacillate in what we have committed to the Lord by any impact of human origin, and we should not fall into temptations from all men trying to influence us, saying, "Do not entrust to the Lord. Retrieve it. It should be done some other way." Ignoring them who are urging us not to commit to the Lord, we should consolidate what we have committed to the Lord and we should do as the Lord calls us to do, for instance, "Be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire." Of course, others will say to us, "Fool! Will you be cast into the fire knowing that immediately you will be burned to death?" Then we should say, "The Lord has power to make it good even if I go into the fire to be burned to death." Then we will have surpassed the temptation, believing in and depending on the Lord.

 

Do we know about the Lord enough to commit our life in the world to Him? How much do we know of Him? How much do we recognize Him? How much do we recognize His power? How much do we recognize His wisdom? How much do we acknowledge His promise? How much do we acknowledge His faithfulness? How much do we trust His love?

 

Doubts will arise about what has been committed to the Lord whenever all the environments and those surrounding us change, "Will you still entrust to Him or retrieve it? Will you still commit to Him now that something new has developed? now that something new has happened? now that the situation has changed?" If we still commit to the Lord, it means that we think more of the Lord than the cause for not committing to the Lord. If we stop committing to the Lord because of some reason to doubt the commission to make it void, it means that we think and believe in more highly of the temptations from people denying what has been committed than the Lord to whom we have committed so far.

 

When what has been committed to the Lord has not gone as desired, for instance, all business has become worse, or all construction has become worse and desired destruction has become unwanted construction, we are either to continue to commit to the Lord or to cease to commit to the Lord, which reveals whether we believe in, whether we hope for, whether we depend on, and whether we make more of, the Lord or anything else.

 

Our entire life represents a struggle between the two views, one that will commit all to the Lord and hope for the Lord, and the other that will see and deal with all others according to our knowledge. That we believe in Him will be confirmed when we commit all to the Lord, and that we do not believe in Him will be manifested when we will not commit all to the Lord.

 

Our entire life represents a matter of weight; which is heavier, the Lord or the entire creation? Which do we believe in more? Which do we hope for more? Which do we depend on more? Do we appreciate His love, His intelligence, and His promise more than all the creation? This is concluded in our life.

 

We may commit to the Lord when we decide all by ourselves, but we can be swayed to change when others come advising us. We may go on unshaken by what others say, but we can change when the thing committed becomes worse. As we are not undulated both by what others say in consensus and by a deteriorating condition of the matter in accordance with our knowledge, our will to commit to the Lord is getting firmer.

 

Therefore, to commit to Him denying ourselves, to commit to Him denying the course of works, to commit to Him denying the culture of the twentieth century, to commit to Him denying the history and statistics down through thousands of years, and to commit to Him denying our own knowledge, these are what He is seeking for. Suppose that what we have committed to Him is now completely demolished in our eyes―"Yes, it is now completely destroyed, but His love, faithfulness, promise, and power can restore what is ruined. I am not changed in what I have committed to Him." He is seeking for this.

 

The Lord is watching―"Let Me see how you are doing. You committed to me some of the whole last time. What about now, do you still want to commit to Me? Then are you still committing this part to Me? To what extent are you committing this part to Me? How long are you going to commit it to Me?"

 

Once we commit to Him, it takes Him no time to accomplish what is committed to Him. Once committed, it will be done. He will finish what has been committed to Him rightly and truly, making it perfect, holy, and clean like Himself. He takes no time in executing. He is the One who created the mankind in six days, and there will be no problem in His part once we committed to His ability. What matters is whether we wish to commit to Him or not.

 

"Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials." This means, "Let Me see if you wish to commit this matter to Me or not. Once you have committed this to Me, let Me see if you will retrieve it from Me and entrust it to others." To commit to Him means to let Him do according to His will and His ruling, and to let Him do all by Himself without any interference from us.

 

Then in the course of time what has been committed to the Lord may become under our control when we are decided and say, "It will not do," as we employ human thoughts, science, and our subjectivity. Then the commission to God will become void and from that moment on we should be responsible for all about the matter.

 

"I see that the Lord is testing me whether I wish to commit this part to Him or not, and He is testing me if I will change to commit to others. Lord, I am committing to You without any doubt. I am committing to You the whole of myself, all men related to me who are close to me and far from me and enemies to me, and my family too."

 

How is it possible? Once we know that He will take good care of what we commit to Him, what we have to do is to follow His instruction, "See, I am going to cure you. Take this medicine," Then we ought to take it even though it tastes bitter. When we ask Him, "What should I do to this enemy of mine?" He will say, "Have you not committed the matter concerning your enemy to Me? Now that you have committed the matter to Me, you do not have to consider about it this way or that way. You should not assume the responsibility for this matter. Rather, you have to do as I tell you to do." "Then, Lord, I and he will be ten times as an enemy to each other as we are now." "It is being committed to Me. Do as I tell you to."

 

What about ourselves, about man, and about God the Lord of all? "Commit each of them to Me too." "Is it so? Will it be all right if I do as You instruct me?" "Yes, just do as I tell you."

 

He wants us to commit all the worries to Him, and He wants us not to retrieve them from Him, and He wants us not to interfere according to our opinion and our will. We should let Him do as He wills, and all we have to do is, if any, to do as He instructs us to do this or that. What we ought not to do is to vacillate according to what looks in our eyes, getting better or worse. Since the number of courses which a matter takes can be tens of thousand to go favorably and then ruinously, or vice versa, we should not be pleased to see a good intermediate step because we may be offended later if we encounter a bad intermediate step.

 

We do not know if what seems to be going well now will be finished well. What is seen to us, what is heard to us, and what is going on now should not necessarily make us expect the consequence, and we have only to believe in Him who is perfect, so that He may accomplish it. Is it almost done? Well, He can do it even if it is completely crushed. Being almost done well may not mean to be being done well to the end. It is not finished yet even if it is almost done or destroyed. As the One who excels anything takes care of it, He will be responsible for it as long as we firmly believe that He will finish it well to the end and we remain unchanged in committing to Him.

 

Our Reality As to Commit

Therefore our entire life in the world is a succession of each reality in which we are admonished to commit to Him and in which we are tested if we have committed to Him, and in which we are tempted by all who prowl around like a roaring lion forcing us to regain what we handed over to Him. Even though all the creation inside and outside us is working to make us cease to be in faith and retrieve it from Him, we only have to do one thing, that is, to keep it committed to Him as well as not to retrieve it from Him. He can accomplish all quickly if we only keep and practice this.

 

Therefore, every reality which we encounter has a purpose to serve. "This reality has come to tell me to commit myself to the Lord, and I have not committed myself until now but toiled only in vain; this reality has come to admonish me to commit the matter to Him; this reality is testing me if I have really committed the matter which I had committed to Him before; this reality is what creatures are tempting me to retrieve that which has been already committed to the Lord; or, now that what is now left seems to be utterly and hopelessly devastated even in my eyes, do I appreciate the Lord more than the apparent reality, professing His faithfulness and love to commit it all to the Lord? Is my committing surpassing it?"

 

"This is a reality which God has made to test me through if I will deny what I have committed to Him; this is to test me if I will keep what has been committed to Him even though it is aggravated like this; this is to instruct me to do this or that now that I have committed something to the Lord."

 

We must remember that our reality is what decides whether we confirm with no doubt what we have committed to the Lord or we nullify what we have committed to the Lord. Here the relationship between the Absolute One and us is all decided to last forever. Having nothing to do with this relationship, what do creatures gather together for? What are they gathering bigger together for? Too much hypocrisy and vanity. These are all to be burned out when the Lord comes.

 

We must quickly commit all to the Lord before the time called today passes away, and how much will have we committed to the Lord? The extent of what we retrieve from what we have committed will indicate how much we know of Him and how much we do not know of Him, and how much we acknowledge Him.

 

It is the will of God to perpetuate only what is professed as the Lord is greater and more truthful than oneself or the creation. This is the truth.

 

Do we really commit to the Lord? Being a Christian in name only, there are those who will commit nothing to the Lord, saying, "He is a liar, He is not faithful, He is impotent, and He is vain, so I will do it myself, or I will do as others instruct me"―they will commit nothing, and they themselves assume the whole responsibility; there are those who will commit to others; there are those who will commit to the Lord but will retrieve when a trivial thing prompts them to. We can see that according to the degree of our commitment our character is decided, and the relationship between Him and us is decided, and the relationship between all affairs and things and us is decided.

 

 

 

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