Humility to Unity
by Ellen Clodfelter
This month at e2, we are focusing on the trait of humility in the life of Jesus, and how striving for humility in our lives can produce deeper unity among us.
When I was younger, I would dream about what life would be like when I was older. I would meet a wonderful guy, get married and have a couple of kids. As we all know, life never turns out exactly the way we plan. Once we got married, we decided to try and have kids, but after trying for eight years, along with many doctors’ appointments, fertility drugs and treatments, nothing worked, while at the same time, our friends were getting pregnant and having children. This was very hard on our marriage and a very humbling time for me as a woman. It was so easy to cry out, “Why God, why me? Why are you doing this to me?”
I tried to find comfort in Scripture and the book of Job spoke powerfully to me. Job was a very rich man with many children, thousands of livestock and a huge staff of servants. “He was the greatest man among all the people of the East” (Job 1:3). Certainly, Job’s life was going along just like he planned, but his life took a sudden turn.
God allowed Satan to strike Job with great suffering. In a moment his oxen and donkeys were stolen, and his servants were killed. The next moment all his sheep and shepherds, camels and camel drivers were killed. Right after that all of his children were killed in one great tragedy when a powerful tornado-like wind destroyed a house in which they were meeting together. Even while he was grieving, Job was struck with terrible ulcers and scabs from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet.
Job lost his wealth and health and all his grown children. This crushed him! What did he do? Was he angry with God? Did he blame God? No! Listen to what he says, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21). Job did not sin through all of this and did not blame God even one time.
After Job lost everything, three of his friends traveled to be by his side, to keep him company and to comfort him. They spent seven days and nights together without speaking a word. They joined him in his suffering and wept with him. His friends were just there, silent and suffering with him. God brought them together to share his grief. “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed” (Ecclesiastes 4:9, NLT).
After seven days Job’s friends started telling him that he had done something wrong and that he deserved to lose everything. Job adamantly denied that he did anything wrong to deserve this, even to the point where he became self-righteous.
This is the point of the story that spoke so powerfully to me.
It was as if God pushed Job off his self-righteous pedestal and humbled him with penetrating questions (chapters 38-41). “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Who laid the cornerstone? Who shut up the sea… and said, your waves can come this far and no farther. Have you ever ordered the morning to come and the sun to rise? Have you traveled to the deepest parts of the ocean? Have you entered the storehouses of snow or hail? Where does lightning come from? Who tells the rain where to fall?”
Wow, just wow! And those questions knocked me off my pride pedestal, setting me in the humble seat! Like Job, I needed to say both then and now, “I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know” (Job 42:3). God does not owe me an answer.
Job was struck down with great suffering and still praised God. Will I do the same when the worst of my fears have come true, when what I have dreaded most has happened? Will I do the same thing when the daily frustrations take over, when things don’t go my way? Will I do the same when disasters strike, when someone close to me dies, when a medical diagnosis is declared, when I lose my wealth? Will I come together with my friends in unity and take on their burden in times of crisis? Will I demonstrate humility like Job? Will I speak out and say, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I’ll return. God gives, God takes away. May the name of the Lord be praised.” Not once through all this did Job sin; not once did he blame God. Can God say the same about me?
It would be far better for me – and for each of us – to willingly humble ourselves before God rather than to be humbled by God. Because we have a sinful nature, we are not born with humility in our DNA. To the contrary, humility is a choice – and it is a choice that I can make only in the strength of the Holy Spirit within me.
