Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. 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. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Conquering something is never easy and largely dependent on others. But we say things like, “Alexander the Great conquered…”, or “Michael Jordan won…”. This obsession with the individual is the evidence of our infatuation with ourselves. And we conveniently forget that Alexander’s army did most of the fighting as Michael’s teammates did most of the scoring and defending.
The call to humility is the call to cast upon Another, not conquer ourselves. It is to shed any pretense of strength and the bold embrace of our weakness. Anything less would not merit the grace of God.
But the casting is difficult, like trying to throw off a heavy lion fighting to devour you. We hate making mistakes, admitting our incompetency, and appearing needy. There is a real weight of resistance to go through any of these.
The danger of being in the presence of a roaring lion is that it can drown out the sound of the rescue helicopter leading us to miss it. Pride is the belief that you can outrun the adversary, humility is desperately waving your hands to be seen by your protector. We risk doing this even at the cost of having two less weapons and opening up ourselves to more attack because we know the pilot cares for us, lowering himself to fight on our behalf.
And this is the grace that comes to the humble. We suffer and endure, awaiting our rescue and deliverance for:
“To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
The humble receive grace to cast, not conquer.