One of the things I have been learning recently is how quickly the Lord can humble us. One moment I can feel strong and able and in a swift moment the ability to do things for myself is taken away for a season. It is truly humbling to know and remember how frail we are as humans even though there are moments when we think we are on top of the world. One of the main things that we see in this chapter is the call James gives to the church to humble themselves. The reason they need to humble themselves is because there seems to be a lot of problems at this church. Let’s take a dive.

Church Problems

Right in the beginning of this chapter James immediately comes in saying “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?” Notice that James does not ask them if they have been fighting but says “What is causing the fighting?” What you will also notice is that after asking this question he does not give the person an excuse for the fighting but instead says “Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?” What James is saying is that the fighting is not because of someone else, the fighting stems from ourselves that we are being led and acting on our fleshly desires. He does not give them an excuse for pointing the finger at others but encourages each individual person to look deep within themselves for the cause of the issues of the church. There are many things that are listed here that James writes about, lust, murder, fighting quarreling, at the end of the day these are all symptoms of a heart that is prideful. When we desire something that someone else has it is because we think we deserve it, that’s pride. When we speak evil of someone else, it’s because in part what we are communicating is that we think we are better, that is pride. The reason these church problems are arising is because people have their hearts filled with pride instead of humbling themselves and asking God for what they do not have. Brothers and sisters, I know from personal experience that it is easy to think, why does that person have what I don’t have? But remember even if you obtain that which you desperately want, you will realize that you will still be unsatisfied. That is because things cannot satisfy us, only God can. James wants to help the church realize that God gives freely to whoever he wants because he does what he pleases, but instead of coveting others' stuff and fighting over it we should humble ourselves and ask for more of him.

God OPPOSES the Proud

Verse 7 “But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” This verse terrifies me. The word that is used here for opposed means to set a battle against, to set one's army to resist. That means that every person who is filled with pride, God is set in battle against them. Meaning that God will go against people who are prideful. The God of the universe waging a war against the proud. Why does it matter so much to God when people are prideful? It is because when we are filled with pride, we see ourselves as the judge, we see ourselves as god, we see ourselves as the righteous discerner of what good and bad is, when we are filled with pride, we think we are right and God is wrong. In reality, when we are filled with pride it's like trying to knock God off his throne, we know that is not possible. And when God opposes us, that means there is no grace. One commentator said that “pride is the death of grace.” When God opposes us, we are met with his army not his gracious hand. It is so important for us to realize that God hates pride, BUT he gives grace to the humble. When we humble ourselves under the hand of God, we can draw near to him, and he draws near to us. When we humble ourselves, we start to see that even if we don’t have what we want, we can be satisfied because we have God. When we humble ourselves, it helps to steward unity within the church seeking the interest of others far above our own. When we humble ourselves, we are met with much grace in the midst of many trials.