Joel M Bradshaw

27For You save a humble people,
but the haughty eyes you bring down.
28For it is You who light my lamp;
the LORD my God lightens my darkness.–Psalm 18

Fugitive David had been delivered from the hand of King Saul and he wrote this psalm in response. He presents two contrasts. I will list them as 4. 3 are proclaimed and 1 is implied.

1. THE HUMBLE PERSON. This person realizes that they need saving. That their life has become unmanageable and the only path out is to submit to God. A church first asks someone at baptism if they believe they are a sinner and second if they trust Jesus alone for their salvation. That is the public faith moment. That is also the humble moment, for they are proclaiming that salvation comes from nobody or nothing else–especially not from the self.
2. THE ONE WITH HAUGHTY EYES. This person is a perpetual ‘I’ve got this.’ Why would I need God when I can handle my situations on my own? Ask that question to literally anyone at rock bottom in recovery and they will tell you that handling thing on their own has led them to where they are. My fellow recovering addicts come to a point where Jesus is their only hope for they are each inadequate to solve their problems. That is humility.
3. GOD LIGHTS MY LAMP AND IS LIGHT IN MY DARKNESS. This person reads the Bible and hungers for the direction it brings. I see this time and again in Biblical counseling. A counselee reads a portion of Scripture out loud and begins to cry because it spoke directly to their need. This person is humble and longs to put the Bible into practice and make daily changes.
4. I LIGHT MY LAMP AND AM LIGHT IN MY DARKNESS. This person would rather stub their toe in the middle of the night because they stubbornly refuse to turn on the light switch. I don’t need some book that’s thousands of years old telling me how I should live! I’ve done just fine so far!

“’God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”  (1 Peter 5:5b-6)

The Joel Path always leads me to hypocritical, selfish places. The Jesus Path involves me denying myself, humbly submitting to Jesus, and applying the Bible to my life daily. Therefore some things in my life are challenged to stop and others encouraged to start. The only hope I’ve ever known has come from a humble place. How about you, my friend?–JMB