Divine Humility

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! - Luke 15:17

We seem to always be ignoring or pushing against reality. No matter how much we claim to understand Truth, we live as we see fit. I find it fascinating that the catalyst for the prodigal son's repentance was an epiphany: a coming to himself, or coming to his senses. He had been living for himself, living within his own set parameters of how the world functionally operated. It was not logic, nor great exposition, nor high philosophy that led him to repentance; it was an awareness of how things actually were. He was able to step back, take a good look at his surroundings, and realize the reality of the situation: his brokenness.

If the catalyst for his repentance was an understanding of the reality of his brokenness, then the catalyst for that understanding was his pain and suffering. Christianity is not about living in prosperity or having the most comfortable lives we can now, it is about the mending of the broken relationship we have with our Father. Quite honestly health, wealth, and prosperity most often keep us far away and calloused to that relationship. The prodigal would have never repented, never crawled back to his Father if his money had not run out. His sufferings were not worth comparing to the glory of being reunited to his Dad.

I recently stumbled upon a few notes that I had taken when reading through C.S. Lewis' 'The Business of Heaven.' In the September 27th entry entitled, 'Divine Humility,' Lewis explains a possible answer as to why there is pain and misfortune in the lives of so many, "decent, inoffensive, and worthy people." Lewis argues that perhaps God, knowing their modest prosperity and happiness will eventually fall away from them, leaving them wretched because they did not learn to know him, troubles them, warning of their insufficiency, before their end destruction falls upon them. He causes them to see their need and makes this life less sweet in their eyes. Therefore, because of their trials they turn to God in repentance.

Lewis calls this divine humility because, "It is a poor thing to strike our colours to God when the ship is going down under us; a poor thing to come to him as a last resort, to offer up 'our own' when it is not worth keeping." God could and justly should demand that we give him our all from the beginning, but he works in our lives, breaking us down till we come to him with nothing left. When he should be receiving our hearts, full and unspoiled, he lovingly runs to us and robes us when our hearts are mangled beyond recognition. God stoops down, tenderly bringing rest in his arms; the humility of such condescension and love is life changing.