The book of Proverbs is not a book that gives us a list of wise actions that we need to follow. The book shows us how a wise man ought to behave. For example, a wise man is a man who is willing to be taught, not to teach. For wisdom is not a problem of talent and of the shallow matters. We have always discussed the characters of a wise man, for the wise would automatically behave in wisdom. In the modern times, we have this strange belief that in order to be a new someone, we need to have the knowledge of how-to: “If I you want me to be wise, then tell me how to be one!” Therefore, reading the book of Proverbs often frustrates us. But we need to think the other way: to be a new someone, we need to be aware and confess our inability to do it. Then, our frustrations become understandable.
Wisdom in the light of our eyes means that we need to know the how-tos. Whereas, wisdom is not something you can bring about by following steps. If we refuse to let go of this concept, and insist on our private wisdom (that is in fact now the true wisdom after all), then we will never be able to move on. According to the Proverbs 26:12, those who consider themselves wise, are fools. Today, we will discuss one of the aspects of wisdom, humility (our admission that we do not know how to be wise). In squeezing for the answer to the how-tos, you have considered yourself wise, because you consider yourself knowing that the way to be wise is to know the how-to. In admitting that you know not how to be wise, you are wise.
PROVERBS 11:12 : Pride is an Act of Comparison
The word belittle here, in the Hebrew language, this word does not only mean belittle, but also contempt and derision. Pride is not our happiness due to an event that occurred to us, but is our happiness that we own something that others do not.
CS Lewis in Mere Christianity compares between lust and pride. Both vices could cause a man to sleep with a woman. But lust still longs for the woman, where pride is to show the woman how attractive he is. In this case, the woman is not even the source of his enjoyment.
Pride and arrogance are shallow matters. In Indonesia, pride could also be translated as self-cost (we value ourselves to compare ourselves with others). This is not to be confused with self-value, for value is independent and there is no comparison in value. But there is always comparison in cost. Pride focuses on self-cost. Therefore, a man with low self-esteem often compares himself with others. Do we lose our good confidence because of our ugly appearance, or because we are uglier than others? Our dissatisfaction towards our salary is usually due to us comparing our salary with others of the same position. We do not seek a higher salary, but we waste our time so we do not become the least, and not to be a better employee.
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| The Building of the Tower of Babel by Hendrik van Cleve III |
PROVERBS 15:25 : Taking Over God’s Place
The book of Proverbs uses the word proud. Proud is translated into many words in the book of Proverbs. In Proverbs 15:25, the word used is ge’eh, which sounds like ga’ah. Ga’ah means exalted, which is only used in the context of God, such as in Exodus 15:1 (highly exalted). In contrast, ge’eh means to be prideful and is used in the context of men. This is both ironic and cynical. We love to use the terminologies often used for the context of God to describe humans: “Oh! He surely is a God of Knowledge!”
Secondly, the essence of pride is our desire to be like God. Pride in the spiritual aspect rejects the LORD as the LORD. But because we are incapable to be Godly, we continually seek for something: a matter or a person to be the basis of our own created fragile ego.
In John Calvin’s sensus divinitatis (sense of divinity), Calvin suggests that “there exists in the human mind and indeed by instinct, some sense of Deity [sensus divinitatis], we hold to be beyond dispute, since God himself, to prevent any man from pretending ignorance, has endued all men with some idea of his Godhead”. What then is the essence of the sense of divinity in the lives of men? Does this mean when we see a beautiful scenery, we will confess that there must be a God who creates nature? That is correct. But in Rome 1:18-19, Paul also discussed sensus divinitatis in the context of the rejection of God and the suppression of the Truth by the people. Perhaps, those who suppress the Truth does not acknowledge the existence of God, but they surely acknowledge the LORD through their pride. Arthur Miller, a Jewish-American playwright made a play about an atheistic lawyer. This lawyer claims that life is merely a court after another, where we ever strive to prove a case before the judge. When we were young, we must prove to our friends that we are more superior in intelligence; in our youth, that we are more attractive; in the adult life, that we are good husbands and parents, and how wise we are. And the judge said that he would become greatly depressed when he peeks the lawyer’s chair and no one is there. Why then must we constantly prove ourselves in our lives? To whom do we prove ourselves?
Sensus divinitatis is certainly present in this case. St. Augustine also suggested that "there is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” Everybody lives the life of judgment and achievement, causing us to constantly look for others more inferior than us. People such as these are considered fools according to the Scripture (Rome 1:18-19).
Sensus divinitatis is certainly present in this case. St. Augustine also suggested that "there is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” Everybody lives the life of judgment and achievement, causing us to constantly look for others more inferior than us. People such as these are considered fools according to the Scripture (Rome 1:18-19).
PROVERBS 13:10 – Self-Imprisonment (and our refusal to see beyond ourselves)
Why does the book of Proverbs say “by insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom?" Why compare “take advice” with “insolence”, and not with “failure to take advice”? Or compare “insolence” with “peace-making”? Because what truly is an advice? An advice always leads to something that is not us. For example, if a person tells you, “you have a terrible handwriting”, and you respond with, “who are you to critique me?”, then you have just focused on the other person’s self, and not the critique itself.
Being wise means to observe and being teachable, that is to absorb something that is outside of us and to let that something to enter us. In Proverbs 2, the commandments are to stores up sound wisdom, call out for insight and to make your ears attentive to wisdom. In order to accomplish these, we must first unself ourselves. Not only is pride an action of comparison and of taking over God’s place, but is also self-imprisonment, that is the refusal to see beyond ourselves. Is there a day when we do not think about how we are not being cheated on when we are not being cheated on? This is what Proverbs 28:1 means, “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion”. Our ego constantly flees that we too constantly strive to gather all the attention to us. If everything in this world is about ourselves, something must then be wrong with us.
Pride is an evidence of low self-esteem. A man who considers himself a failure is a man who is focusing on himself (and not something beyond himself). He is attending his own self-made court, and he has lost the case, due to his very own self-esteem.
PROVERBS 21:4 : Pride-Caused Disintegration
We understand that pride leads to disintegration, which means the wicket views the world in light of pride and arrogance. They see the world in light of their low self-esteem. As to how a wise man will act wisely, a proud man will act in pride. Furthermore, a wise man is able to see reality wholly / in a big picture.
According to Proverbs 15:25, there is a destruction that comes from God (the outside) and that God maintains the widow’s boundaries. Here, the Scripture does not mean that the quartet marginal / quartet of the vulnerable (widows, orphans, immigrants, and the poor) are always humble in heart. It only attempts to imply that widows (representatives of the quartet of the vulnerable) are protected by the LORD and that they are where the LORD’s heart is. Why then is this contrasted with pride? Because God is a God who shares and handovers His glory. John Piper suggests that our God seeks His own glory and to be praised by men. But we must be reminded that our God is not a narcissistic God, but a triune God. According to John 17, He seeks the glory of His other Person. The Father glorifies the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Son glorifies the Father and the Holy Spirit, dan the Holy Spirit glorifies the Father and the Son. Jesus does not testify for Himself (John 5:31).
JI Packer said that the Holy Spirit is like a spotlight. When we see the light, we cannot see its bulb. What we can see is what spotlight lights. This way, the Holy Spirit testifies about the other Persons. This is the essence of the doctrine of the Trinity. And here, the divinity of the Holy Spirit is evident because He works from behind the curtain. The triune God glorifies each other, does not seek, but orbits around each other. Therefore, our God seeks the humble and not men who pretend to be humble. Because glory-giving is the true essence of our God. If in our lives we constantly seek glory, we will collide with the living God who constantly gives glory. For He gives glory to the humble.
PROVERBS 15:33 : Eternal Glory Through Humility
What then is the solution? How do we evade such pride?
The Scripture says that humility comes before honor. The Hebrew word for honor here is kabod, which also means glory. Kabod sounds like kabad, which means affluent, real and solid. Therefore, humility is not the sole prerequisite of honor, for pride could also bring honor. Yet, the most affluent, real and eternal honor is through humility.
Who are the humble? Those who admit that they are not of a high estate and do not seek glory for themselves. Humility cannot be faked, for humility is not an achievable status. If it is, it must be a false humility.
Professor McCallister is a pastor who married a Chinese woman. He is invited to his wife’s family Chinese dinner each year. He knows that his mother-in-law always prepares the annual feast for three days. After the dinner, his mother-in-law asked him how the food was. He said, “it was an incredible dinner! You must have prepared the dinner for days!” The mother-in-law would then return back the honor to him. And McCallister this is an example of a false humility. Why? McCallister said, “because I knew that it was not true. And she knows that I know. And I know that she knows that I know.”
Humility comes from knowing who we are. It cannot be separated from self-awareness. You can be genuinely humble only when you realize that you are but dirt and dust, that you are of no glory. Therefore, the question is not a list of how-tos, for humility begins in the unselfing. This explains why the religious are often the most prideful. This explains why there are many plausible answers by those who avoid religions about why they avoid religions. Because there are a lot of how tos in religions in order for you to achieve certain things. While genuine humility comes from what outside of us.
Furthermore, we shall see with whom in the history God worked through.
According to the ancient culture, the first-born always gets the power, yet God worked through the youngest. The number seven is considered a perfect number throughout the Scripture and according to the ancient culture. Yet, David was the eighth son, he was supposed to be the unwanted child. Yet the LORD worked through this eighth son. Similarly, God worked through Abel and not Cain, Hannah and not Elkanah, Leah and not Rachel. And finally, God came to this earth as a carpenter. We might have heard of the story of incarnation for so many times, we have forgotten its essence. Let me then ask you a question: If your life’s purpose is to be famous, worshiped, teach influential sermons, and be influential for 2000 years, what would your strategy be? Would you implement the strategy that Jesus implemented? That is by avoiding the greatest academic buildings and died as a criminal at a very young age. Are these the ways that you would choose to change hearts of thousands and millions all over the world, at all ages. Yet, it is written in the epistle of Paul that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:25).” Perhaps, if you are to become a well-known great teacher, you would most probably be influential to people of high moral. But those who worship Jesus today range from scholars with a Ph.D. degree to those who live in persecuted countries. They do not talk about Plato, they talk about the teachings of Jesus? This is because Jesus came with the gospel of salvation that is based on humility, through the cross. You must understand what it means to receive this Jesus as your Savior. The gospel is not the outcome of an achievement because if it is the gospel is merely the work of men. Even our willingness to receive the LORD is merely the response to the LORD’s own action. This response of men is the evidence of humility.
Humility also comes with humiliation. Have you ever received a gift that is difficult to receive? What if someone gives you a bottle of Listerine or deodorant as your birthday gift? Being able to thank that person is humility. Humility is difficult because it expects you to come empty-handed. That is why we believe that grace precedes faith. Faith does not come from us, it comes from the outside.
Reverend Ivan Kristiono was asked by a newly converted Christian to tell him about the gospel. Rev. Kristiono asked him back, “Did you know that if you would like to learn about the teachings of Jesus, you must first accept Him?”, “Yes, I am aware”, the man answered. “Then let us now pray, for you have decided to accept Jesus as your Savior.”, “Wait for a minute!”, the man answered, “That’s it? No way! That would be too easy!”, then Rev. Kristiono answered, “Now you know that it is not too easy. In fact, it is too difficult. The prove is your own refusal. You cannot come to God if God does not call you first.”
Giving up yourself to the LORD does not mean giving the LORD your life, but asking the question, “I am nothing and have nothing, what does the LORD want to do with me?” Asking such question will bring joy to your life.
In a video game, when you face a difficult level, would you say, “The game maker must have made a mistake! This is an impossible level!”, or instead, would you say, “Maybe I have to change my strategy. Maybe I should have jumped instead of docked.” You would most probably say the second statement, and this is what makes a video game is so enjoyable. As a Christian, we should not only criticize video games but also learn from it. When you begin asking for a list of how-to’s, you will be stuck at one level. The only way to move on to the next level is to see beyond you.
You will find it difficult to surrender and change yourself if you fail to see how God has surrendered His control and change Himself for you through the incarnation. He submitted Himself to men’s judgment and control. Only in realizing this, will you finally be able to be humble. And this is the gospel.
Q&A:
Q: Does your statement about low self-esteem being an expression of pride contradict with Proverbs 16:19?
A: The Indonesian translation of this verse is not the best translation. The English translation says, “Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.” The Hebrew word for ‘lowly in spirit’ is shafal, which does not mean low-self esteem.
Q: Is self-denial a part of humility? Don’t we too need self-evaluation?
A: Sure, it is. But humility is not all about self-denial, and we should not stop at self-denial. We must remember others outside of us, including God. We could see this through hierarchy or order. For instance, salvation is passive, yet responsive. Another example is the matter of offering-giving. Some say that if you give God 10% of your salary, God will give you 100% in return. Yet, the counterpart is God has given you 100% and you give 10% as a response. Both views must be acknowledged: God’s sovereignty and man's responsibility. We have to see our self, through the eyes of God. Does this mean we need no evaluation? Do the prideful even evaluate themselves? Some of them do, but their primary is self, and not God.
When we have just lost a debate, we often perform the debate again within our hearts, and this time we never lose. Above all, the main point is the priority. Apostle Paul said that I do not care if you judge me, because it is God who will judge me. In saying this, he does not mean that he does not self-evaluate and see his self. He saw his self through the eyes of God.
Q: What about toddlers who are unable to respond to the gospel yet?
A: A more extreme question is, “What about still-born babies who are unable to respond to the gospel yet?” There is, of course, the aspect of a covenant: a chosen person’s child is also chosen by default. But aside from that, it is not men’s response that saves. The gospel works through faith, not by faith. The equation is: Saved by grace alone, through faith alone. Good works are not the requirement of salvation, but the evidence, for those who are saved will do good works. If the source is righteous, so will its evidence. But just because the evidence is there (good works), does not mean the source is right. A lamp produces heat, but heat does not always come from the lamp. Asking if a child will be saved is like asking why the child was created at the first place. There is only one answer: by the grace of God.
Written by: Alicia Angie Wiranata
Summary has not been revised by the speaker
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