“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6b ESV1
Read James 4:1-5:20
Let me be clear: there is nothing you can do to make God love you more, and there is nothing you can do to make God love you less. God is love (see 1 John 4:8, 16). Perfect love is His character and cannot be swayed by human effort. And your salvation is not dependent on your works. Jesus has already accomplished everything necessary to pay for your sin and give you His righteousness. You need only repent and believe, and God takes care of everything else (see John 6:29 & 27).2 But God’s favor and blessings are conditional. James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote:
“‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’” (James 4:6b).
God’s resistance to the proud and approval of the humble wasn’t a new concept to the Jewish believers to whom James wrote. Similar statements are found in the Old Testament (see Job 22:29, Psalms 138:6, Proverbs 3:34, and Isaiah 57:15, 66:2). Jesus modeled and taught this (Matthew 23:12), and Peter wrote about it (1 Peter 5:5). But James expounded upon it.
The fourth and fifth chapters of James explain what pride and humility look like. As we consider each of these characteristics, I challenge you to ask yourself, “Does that describe me?”
Five Proofs of Pride
- Fighting
First, James addressed fighting:
“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel” (James 4:1-2a).
Are you an aggressive person? Do you struggle to control your temper? When things don’t go your way, do you fly into a rage? When you don’t have what you want, do you fight to get it? When your feelings are hurt, do you lash out at others?
Fighting for selfish gain is never justified. Paul lists this kind of combativeness right along with other serious sins in his description of the works of the flesh:
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21).
- Self-centered Praying
Next, James spoke about self-centered praying:
“You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (James 4:2b-3).
Do you pray? If so, what do you pray about? Are your prayers entirely about you and your desires? Does praying seem like a waste of time to you? Do your prayers frequently go unanswered?
Compare your prayers to the one Jesus taught His disciples:
“‘Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’” (Matthew 6:9-13).
Notice how this prayer focuses first on God and His will. Next comes supplications, but for corporate, not individual needs. Not once do we see personal pronouns used in this prayer. How much of your prayers include the words, I and me?
- Judging
Then James discussed judging:
“Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks evil against the Law and judges the Law. But if you judge the Law, you are not a doer of the Law but a judge. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, He who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor … Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door” (James 4:11-12; 5:9)?
Are you critical of other Christians? Do you focus on the negative? Do you complain about or make fun of the mistakes and shortcomings of others? Do you talk about people behind their backs? Do you think you are better, smarter, or more talented than those in authority over you?
Oswald Chambers, in his popular devotional, My Utmost For His Highest, wrote:
“Jesus’ instructions with regard to judging others is very simply put; He says, “Don’t.” The average Christian is the most piercingly critical individual known … The Holy Spirit is the only one in the proper position to criticize, and He alone is able to show what is wrong without hurting and wounding. It is impossible to enter into fellowship with God when you are in a critical mood. Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. Jesus says that as His disciple, you should cultivate a temperament that is never critical … There is no escaping the penetrating search of my life by Jesus. If I see the little speck in your eye, it means that I have a plank of timber in my own (see Matthew 7:3-5). Every wrong thing that I see in you, God finds in me. Every time I judge, I condemn myself (see Romans 2:17-24). Stop having a measuring stick for other people. There is always at least one more fact, which we know nothing about, in every person’s situation … I have never met a person I could despair of, or lose all hope for, after discerning what lies in me apart from the grace of God.”3
- Boasting
Also, James confronted boasting:
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil” (James 4:13-16).
Are you a planner, a schemer, or a manipulator? Does your world revolve around you? Are you only at peace when you feel like you are in control? Do you fret and worry about the future? Who plans your days, your next steps? You or the Lord?
James asserts that it is ridiculous to waste so much time planning because we don’t have any idea what will happen even tomorrow. Jesus explained the absurdity of fretting over plans like this:
“‘Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? … Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” … Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble’” (Matthew 6:27, 31, 32b-34).
Fretting and boasting about the future only robs you of the joy of today. But there is no benefit in living a haphazard, undisciplined life either. The solution to falling into either extreme is to seek God’s guidance, focus on His will, and trust Him with your future.
- Hoarding
Lastly, James dealt with hoarding:
“Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you” (James 5:1-6).
After hearing this, your first thought might be, “This isn’t a problem for me. I’m not rich. I don’t possess gold or silver. I don’t have employees whom I have defrauded.” But what do you have that you are carefully guarding? What do you own that could be shared? What is yours in abundance that someone else really needs? Time? Energy? Encouragement? Love? Mercy? The Gospel?
Remember the Golden Rule:
“‘Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them’” (Matthew 7:12a).
Imagine yourself in the situations of those around you. What would you wish others who are able would do for you? Where you can, do those very things for those in need.
Four Evidences of Humility
- Patience
The first evidence of humility that James mentioned is patience:
“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand … As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (James 5:7-8, 10-11).
Patience in these verses is much stronger than the idea of waiting for something without complaint. It is translated from the Greek word, makrothymeō, and is defined as: to be of a long spirit, not to lose heart, to persevere patiently and bravely in enduring misfortunes and troubles, to be patient in bearing the offenses and injuries of others, to be mild and slow in avenging, to be longsuffering, slow to anger, slow to punish.4 No wonder James goes beyond using the farmer as an example to the prophets and Job.
Are you known for your emotional and spiritual endurance? How patient and brave are you during difficulty? Do you steadfastly trust the Lord’s purposes when you don’t know the reason for the trials in your life? Do you faithfully remember and count on God’s compassion and mercy when you are suffering? Can you keep your cool and not retaliate when offended and mistreated? Can you wait for the Lord to vindicate you when you are wronged?
This is the kind of patience the Lord has with us:
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
Look again at this verse. The Lord isn’t long-suffering with the Lost waiting for them to somehow come to repentance on their own before the End comes. He is refusing to lose heart with us, patiently enduring the offense of our neglect in sharing the Gospel, and is slow to punish us for our apathy and disobedience. Aren’t you glad? Can you not extend that same kind of patience to fellow Christians?
- Truthfulness
Secondly, James taught that truthfulness is an essential element of humility:
“But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by Heaven or by Earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘Yes’ be yes and your ‘No’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation” (James 5:12).
Jesus taught something very similar:
“‘You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.” But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by Heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the Earth, for it is His footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from [the] evil [one]’” (Matthew 5:33-37).
After all the chastisements James gave, he considered truthfulness to be the supreme characteristic of a Christian. That is because Jesus is the Truth (see John 14:6) and Satan is the Father of Lies (see John 8:44). Both Jesus and James exhorted Believers to stay as far away from lying as possible because there are serious consequences for liars:
“‘For the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death’” (Revelation 21:8).
How truthful are you? Do you keep your promises? Do you tend to exaggerate or tell half-truths? Do you tell lies to protect yourself? Do you try to impress or justify by adding more than is necessary to your “Yes” and “No”? Do you think lying is no big deal?
- Prayerfulness
Next, James explained what humility in prayer includes.
Supplication
First, James mentioned supplication. Supplication is a humble and earnest plea to God for your needs. This entreaty is made with patient expectation that He will come through for you at the right time and in the best possible way. It is not a demand for what you want but a meek reliance on and a bold trust in the only One who can meet your needs.
“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray” (James 5:13a).
When trouble arises, do you first run to doctors, the internet, or friends and family? When you face difficulties, do you muster your strength and attempt to plow through them on your own? Do you ignore your problems, hoping they will go away? Or, when you are in need, is your first turn to God? Do you believe He loves you and can and will meet your needs?
Worship
James continued with a second aspect of true prayer, worship:
“Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise” (James 5:13b).
Worship, praise, and thanksgiving are essential elements of Biblical prayer. Refer to the prayers found throughout Scripture, including the model prayer which Jesus gave His disciples (the Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:9-13, cited above), and you will discover major portions of those prayers focus on the character of God, His will, remembering His promises, and thanking Him for what He has done. Prayer should include worship, praise, and thanksgiving, not because God needs His ego stroked, but because we need to remember to Whom we are appealing. When we focus on God’s character and His plans, purposes, and accomplishments, our faith is strengthened, and our problems don’t appear as overwhelming.
So, how about you? When you pray, do you take the time to worship God for who He is? Do you praise Him for the promises He has given you in His Word? Do you thank Him for all of the things He has already done on your behalf?
Intercession
Next, James brought up intercession:
“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” (James 5:14-15).
There are two sides to intercession. One side applies to the one in need of prayer. That person must humble him/herself and ask for prayer. The other side is for those who are in a position to intercede on behalf of the one in need. Theirs is a weighty assignment.
The Greek word translated here as prayer of faith is the word euchē. James is the only New Testament writer who uses euchē in connection with prayer. The word actually means to make a vow.5
The elders who anoint and pray for an ailing person are entering into a covenant with him/her. They make a vow to continue to pray for the sick one with the same effort with which they would pray for themselves if they were stricken with the same illness as the one who asked for their prayers.
That is serious business, but committed, continuing prayer isn’t just for elders; it is for all Christians. Oswald Chambers put it this way:
“As a saved soul, the real business of your life is intercessory prayer. Whatever circumstances God may place you in, always pray immediately that His atonement may be recognized and as fully understood in the lives of others as it has been in yours. Pray for your friends now, and pray for those with whom you come in contact now.”6
How often do you pray for the needs of others? Do you consider intercessory prayer the real business of your saved life? Are you willing to sacrificially and persistently pray for the needs of others with the fervor you would pray for yourself if you were in their shoes? Do you pray with unhindered faith? Do you really believe God will act on behalf of others in response to your faith-filled prayers?
Confession
Because covenantal, persistent, intercessory prayer heals the sick and acquires forgiveness for sinners, James then instructed:
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16).
So, what exactly is James telling us to do? I won’t bore you with more Greek words, but I will put in brackets the meanings of the words James chose so we can better understand. James commanded:
“Therefore, confess7 [profess, and acknowledge openly and joyfully] your sins to one another [Believers] and pray for one another 8 [in that continual, covenantal, intercessory way] so that you can be healed9 [cured, or made whole, both physically and spiritually]. Because the prayer10 [entreaty, urgent pleading] of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
The righteous person about whom this verse speaks is not a Super Christian. Righteous person11 in this verse simply means approved by God. If you are a Believer, you have been set apart, made holy, and approved by God. You possess the righteousness of Christ.
“For our sake He [the Father] made Him [the Son] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
In Christ, you have everything you need to have effectual, fervent prayers. But why should you fervently pour out your heart to God on behalf of sick and sinful Believers? Why should you confess your sins to other Believers for prayer? Because we are all part of the Body of Christ. When one part of the Body is sick or steeped in sin, the whole Body is affected.
When was the last time your heart broke over the sickness of another Believer? Did you solemnly pledge to continue to intercede for his/her healing? When was the last time you agonized over the sin that is so rampant in the Church? Did you entreat God and urgently plead for forgiveness? When was the last time you openly and honestly confessed your sin to another Believer? If so, did you expect him/her to pray so fervently for you that you would be forgiven and/or healed? Do you really believe you can be healed and forgiven? Do you actually believe that, in Christ, your prayers can bring about healing and forgiveness?
Persistence
To reiterate the importance of persistence in prayer, James gave an illustration:
“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit” (James 5:17-18).
Elijah wasn’t a superhero; he was human like us, but he believed that the LORD could and would answer specific, God-honoring, prayers of faith. So, he prayed fervently for God to perform supernatural feats, such as sending fire from Heaven to consume a sacrifice, holding back rain for years, and then sending rain again. But he didn’t pray those things to show off or because he was tired of varying weather patterns. Elijah prayed passionately and persistently12 for what would glorify God and turn His people back to Him.
So, how about you? Do you believe you have the same access to the Throne of God as Elijah did? Have you ever dared to pray seemingly impossible prayers? If so, are your prayers like the selfish demands of a spoiled kid in a candy store? Or are they bold, fervent, God-honoring prayers for things that would bring Him glory and establish His Kingdom on Earth?
- Reconciliation
Lastly, James hit on reconciliation. Reconciliation involves restoring relationships, resolving conflicts, and fostering harmony. Reconciliation does not happen without humility. To mend fractured relationships and unify differences, rights must be surrendered, faults must be admitted, and submission must be chosen.
James taught:
“My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20).
When it comes to bringing a wanderer back to the truth, prayer is absolutely essential! John made this statement:
“If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death” (1 John 5:16a).
Ask in this verse is more than a simple, one-time statement. The word translated, ask here means to beg, crave, or desire.13 It denotes a passionate imploring and an all-consuming desire for the restoration of the one who has walked away.
Facilitating reconciliation is joining God in His work:
“God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself … gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20a).
The ministry of reconciliation is a call to participate in God’s redemptive work in the world, bringing people into a right relationship with God and with one another. There is much joy in Heaven and on Earth when one brings a fellow Believer back into a reconciled relationship with God. The ministry of reconciliation doesn’t happen without humble surrender.
Are you ready to be a mediator? Can you, in humility, boldly confront an erring Brother or Sister? Can you continue to go after a wonderer even if it means facing rejection time and time again? Are you willing to sacrifice time and energy to urgently and persistently intercede (euchē) for the one who has lost his/her way? Do you believe such a sacrifice is worth it?
Serious Thought
God is calling us to be humble. And we now know what humility does and doesn’t look like. Then we are hit with James’ convicting statement:
“So, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17).
We are not just missing out on God’s favor and blessing by nursing our pride and refusing to choose humility. We are sinning!
Pride is the sin of Satan. And pride is the endeavor of the World. Walking in pride is choosing what is pleasing to the world, the flesh, and the devil over what God desires.
James exhorted the Church:
“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the Spirit that He has made to dwell in us’?” (James 4:4-5).
If you are in Christ, Christ’s Spirit is in you. Christ yearns to have full access to those He has purchased with His blood. He wants to work through you for your good, the good of others, and for His glory. Pride is the kink in the hose preventing His Spirit from fully working through you. Humility removes that kink and lets His Spirit freely flow.
How to Move from Pride to Humility
James doesn’t just chastise Believers for the lack of humility; he gives the solution to the problem.
“But He gives more grace … Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you” (James 4:6a, 7-8a).
We are called to humble ourselves, but in our human strength, we can’t. Grace is our answer. God doesn’t give us the kind of grace that pretends that we are all right when we are all wrong. He gives us the Grace that makes us right with Him. We can’t humble ourselves! We can’t even want to, but God, through Christ in us, will humble us if we are willing to turn to Him and fall upon His grace. But we must do something first. James continued:
“Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you” (James 4:8b-10).
Confess your sin of pride. Agree with God about this sin. Be torn up over the time you have wasted, the opportunities you have missed, and the way you have dragged the Name of the Lord through the mud because of your pride. Repent and turn from pride. No longer join the enemy in his ways. Run to God and accept His help.
The humility to which God is calling us is more than kindness, sharing, and not drawing attention to ourselves. And it has nothing to do with abuse, feelings of worthlessness, or self-hatred. Godly humility is properly placed power! It is rejecting the sinful self-nature, punching the Devil in the nose, and pouring oneself out for the glory of God.
Godly humility isn’t about trying harder. It isn’t about beating yourself up. Godly humility is just that—Godlike. In our human power, we can’t pull it off. We have to let Christ produce true humility through us. If we are in Christ, we have everything we need to reject pride and its characteristic fighting, self-centered praying, judging, boasting, and hoarding. In Christ, we have all we need to grow in humble patience, truthfulness, prayerfulness, and reconciliation.
If we are in Christ, we have access to the humility of Christ:
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).
Obtaining what we have in Christ and through His humility is exactly what we need to get on God’s good side and stay in His favor. Won’t you turn to Him and allow Him to help you become all He intends you to be?
1 Scripture quotations marked with ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All Scriptures are taken from the ESV unless otherwise noted. To aid in understanding, I have capitalized references to God.
2 For more on this, check out: https://blueturtletrails.com/the-work-of-god/
3 https://utmost.org/updated/beware-of-criticizing-others/
4 https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3114/kjv/tr/0-1/
5 https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2171/kjv/tr/0-1/
6 https://utmost.org/updated/have-you-come-to-when-yet/
7 https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1843/kjv/tr/0-1/
8 https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2172/kjv/tr/0-1/
10 https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1162/kjv/tr/0-1/
11 https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1342/kjv/tr/0-1/
12 For more on this, check out: https://blueturtletrails.com/proper-persistence/
13 https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g154/kjv/tr/0-1/