Thus sayeth the Lord, Today He will begin to exalt me!

Moses the servant of God was dead. Joshua had taken over the reigns of leadership. Now the Israelites were on the cusp of entering the promised land. There was one major hurdle over. Before them was the river Jordan, and it was at full-flood stage. How were the 2-3 million desert wanderers going to cross this raging river? 

The Book of Joshua (chapter 3) tells us that God did a miracle-the waters stopped flowing some distance away and the Israelites crossed the dry river bed to the other side. This may sounds like fantasy to modern sceptics but let me say this; recorded quakes have dammed the Jordan River more than once, in 1160CE, 1267, 1534, 1834, 1906  with the most recent in 1927 when the waters were held up for 22 hours!

Did God use this mechanism to enable the Israelites cross the river? If He did, then the miracle would not be so much that the river was dammed (as that is possible via purely naturalistic events) but rather the timing of the event.

However, today we will not be exploring the historicity of this biblical event (exciting as it would have been), rather I would like us to consider one of the ‘side-events’ preceding this miracle.

 As he looked over the raging waters, God spoke to Joshua and said;  “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. Joshua 3:7

With an eye on some of our television preachers and prophets, I can only imagine how proud they would have been to hear those words spoken to them. However, the Bible records that Joshua reported it to the Israelites like this; “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you … as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap. "Joshua 3:9-13

There is, if you are keen enough to notice, something unique about this whole conversation. Joshua did not go yapping; "Hey guys, thus sayeth the Lord, Today He will begin to exalt me!"
Joshua deliberately left out the part where God promised to exalt him. Somehow he knew that this was between him and God. This is true humility.

Humility can be expressed in many different ways but in this instance it is exhibited in Joshua's self-restraint. Isn’t it sad that this kind of humility is lacking in many ministers? I dare say that the unrestrained blabbering so commonplace today about what one has 'seen' and 'heard' is nothing more than prideful hyper-spirituality. And it is not entirely harmless. It can lead down the slippery slope of false humility described here:

Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. Colossians 2:18

If you have watched episodes of Sid Roth's 'It's Supernatural!' or flipped through some of our local ‘Christian’ T.V. stations then you probably understand what I am talking about. Scripture has much to say about true humility but how can we be humble before God and man? Let us consider these words from Saint Peter.

1 Peter 5:5b-7

Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

1. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. Do I cloak myself with an attitude of humility towards all others-the poor included? I say the poor because it is the one where many stumble and it also specifically mentioned in scripture.

Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Romans 12:16

This is a difficult command to follow because our world, regardless of which culture you live in, upholds some form of classism. There is always the subtle pressure to disassociate with those who are not ‘our kind or type’. The social barriers are just as strong as the fences in our gated communities. Followers of Christ are however commanded;

 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or

vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Philippians 2:3

Indeed God’s default position has always been that he favours the lowly (Isaiah 57:15, Matthew 11:15, James 1:27).

2. For “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Pride invites God's opposition to your life just as humility encourages His favour. If you are interested in an extreme example of what true humility can achieve with God, then there is a captivating story for you in 1 Kings 21 that perfectly explains the point.

 3. Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God.

Many Christians have a grossly inadequate picture of God. They do not know Him because they do not read and meditate on the scriptures. The God they have in their heads is not the God of the Bible. What they have is a caricature. This is why we hear Christians say some really strange things about who God is or should be. This is also why some are proud. Look at Moses. He knew God in a way that few have ever know God. The Lord spoke to him face to face, clearly without parables or symbols (Numbers 12:6-7). And yet he was declared the humblest man on earth (Numbers 12:3). How did he get to be so humble? I’d say that he had a proper perspective of who God is and what He is capable of. He wrote this prayer;

Who knows the power of your anger?

For your wrath is as great as the fear

that is due you. Psalms 90:11

 Do you not know that beyond God, there is really no appeal. When we have a proper perspective of who God is, we will be humble.

4. For at the proper time/in due time, He will exalt you/lift you out of your troubles.

This implies patience on our part. Now patience does not mean lazy abeyance. Patience is best described as 'waiting on the Lord' i.e. praying consistently as we engage in fruitful activity.

So what became of Joshua after God’s promise? (For the full story please read Joshua 3-4). The story concludes like this;

That day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they stood in awe of him all the days of his life, just as they had stood in awe of Moses. Joshua 4:14

We see then, that before the great miracle happened, God had private dealings with Joshua on the side. In NGO-speak, we call these side events-smaller group presentations in chat. These side events sometimes have great consequences on the main event. 

And so it is with our lives. In the midst of life events, the state of our true persona, humble or otherwise, is often tested and brought to the fore. I urge you my good friend, do not fail these tests very often. God will eventually lift you up as He did with Joshua.