7 Promises God Makes to the Humble
God makes countless promises to the humble throughout Scripture. Humility is a big deal to God.
Countless times throughout Scripture, God gave mercy to those who humbled themselves before Him.
And I’m not just talking about the faithful and righteous. No, God withheld His wrath from evil men who turned toward Him in humility.
Ahab was the most evil king of Israel. Because of the evil he did during his time as king, he was sentenced to disaster. God spoke of death, ruin and severe punishment. But when Ahab heard of this, he changed.
“Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.” 1 King 21:29
Because of his humility, God gave him mercy.
Humility is a powerful thing. When we choose to submit to the Lord in all we do and to surrender every part of our lives to Him, we will be rewarded.
Consider these 7 promises that God makes to those who are humble.
1. Saved from Affliction
You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty. -Psalm 18:27
God promises to save those who are humble. When we align our hearts with God, we will find the strength we need to overcome any trial.
I know that I grow weary and afraid when I look to the trials ahead. But God promises that if we surrender our hearts to Him in humility, that He will save us from affliction. He will provide us with what we need to overcome. In Him, there is victory.
2. He Guides and He Teaches
He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. -Psalm 25:9
As we humble ourselves before God, we will find that God reveals to us where we should go. Sometimes there is a big decision before us and other times it may just be a day by day guidance.
In humility, we open our hearts to the guidance that God seeks to provide us with.
It takes surrender to truly listen and be open to God’s prompting.
When you fully surrender your heart to God and humble yourself before Him, you will find direction and guidance in His will for you.
3. Grace
Grace is mentioned most often as a promise for humility.
He mocks proud mockers, but gives grace to the humble. -Proverbs 3:34
God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. -James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5
When we forsake our pride and look to the Lord, we will receive grace. God’s grace is powerful and when we struggle, we must remember to be humble and surrender our hearts to God.
When we surrender our desire for control, our hope to accomplish in our own strength, and our grasp on our lives, God will provide us with profound grace.
4. Wisdom
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. -Proverbs 11:2
In surrender and humility, God will grant us wisdom. Wisdom is so much more than knowledge. It is knowing God’s will. It is knowing God’s truth and how to apply it. It is knowing God’s love in every situation.
5. Honor
The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor. -Proverbs 15:33
Before a downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. -Proverbs 18:12
With humility there is honor. This honor is not what we tend to think about in today’s society. True honor starts with God alone. When we submit to God and humble ourselves before His throne, we are transformed and the lives we live become honorable to Him.
As we purify our hearts before God and commit to His transforming love, we will be renewed and therefore honored.
6. Greatest in Heaven
Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. -Matthew 18:4
There is none more humble than a child.
Jesus speaks of the importance of being like children in our faith. Children are humble and in humility, they heed their parents’ guidance. In humility, they trust their guardians.
Do you heed to the Lord as a child does to his parents? Do you trust the Lord’s guidance and commands as a child trusts his parents?
In this humility there is greatness. Consider our merely human example. A child who listens perfectly to his parents, honors them, and is humble before them, is considered great in their eyes.
How much more are we considered great when we humble ourselves before the King of Kings, our loving Father?
7. Lifted Up
Humble yourselves, therefore under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. -1 Peter 5:6
Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up. -James 4:10
When we humble ourselves before the Lord, He promises that He will lift us up in His timing. We can take great comfort in this. As we submit to His leading and His will, we can be sure that He will lift us up.
Have you seen God bless you when you followed Him in humility?
No matter how difficult your circumstance, how trying your testimony and how fearful the future feels, you can rely on the promise that when you are humble before God, He will lift you up.
I take great comfort in these promises because I know that no matter what happens around me, the Lord has something good planned for me. The Lord will lift me up in His time, He will give me grace, guidance and wisdom.
I encourage you to pray for humility in your everyday life. Pray that God will grow this in you. And you will be rewarded.
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Great study, however I am not sure I would have referenced AHab in the conversation of humility at all. He and Jezebel died because of their disobedience, pride and evil ways.
Thanks, Angel 🙂 The reason I reference Ahab here is because it shows the powerful mercy of the Lord when we humble ourselves. Ahab was full of evil and pride and yet even in spite of that, God showed him mercy when he humbled himself. This gives me hope that no matter how much I’ve failed to surrender my pride in the past, God’s mercy is powerful enough to forgive me when I do humble myself. In this particular story, Ahab did die and that was God’s justice at work. But God’s mercy was shown in that the disaster He promised would not happen in Ahab’s lifetime. It just amazes me that God still shows mercy to those who humble themselves even in a situation like Ahab’s! Thanks so much for your comment 🙂
That’s true but good called Solomon the wises man who ever lived even despite his mistakes
Thanks for the encouragement , in my study time I was studying” give up your right to be right” and I came across your 7 keys . Thank you for allowing GOD to use you . 😃
Throughout the Bible, God wanted obedience out of a genuine desire to please Him. “If you love me, keep my Commandments”
John 14:15. Keeping God’s Commandments keeps us humble, unselfish, and willing; therefore we can receive His grace, where it’s not offered to the proud person. James 4:6 1 Peter 5:5
A humble person has a desire to please his Lord, where a proud person’s desire is to please himself.
Dear Nicole, Thank you so much for the scriptures and the descriptions you have provided regarding humility. I have a sensitive heart to humility for I was a poor kid in a school for poor children, but blessed by a special Christian school founded by a devout woman, Martha Berry, who God chose to devote her life to providing a special school for poor children. We were children, we were poor and believe me we were humble. God loves these three and blessed us mightily. I plan to use your provided scriptures and comments to share with my grandchildren. God bless you mightily as I am sure you are!
Humility works with patience, and being thankful for His mercy. We cannot glow in the fact that He must work things out just for us. We should be thankful that He would love such a sinner as we were. Remembering that when He died on the cross, we were on His mind. In all of God’s work, He was more likely to use the man of low degree, those of humble state, and those not abased.
So thankful grace enables us to bow when pride rather rise and stick around. Only through Him!! Encouraged by these scriptures and your words!
Definitely, Jessica! I’m so glad you found encouragement here, thanks for stopping by!
This was such a great reminder this morning. My favorite is the reminder that humility is key to truly receive God’s grace. Thank you so much for sharing!!
Thanks, Kasia!
Wonderful post, Nicole! I’ll share it on my Facebook page. This is a good reminder for me right now. I work with two people who aren’t humble at all, and I need to focus on developing my own humble heart and stop judging them for their lack of humility.
Great way to look at it, Sarah. It can be so hard when those around us lack that humility and that is when I lean on these promises. Thank you for sharing this! 🙂 Always great to hear from you!
Amen, Nicole! Thank you for drawing out and summarizing these promises today. They are as assuring as they are humbling 🙂
Thanks, Bethany!
These are beautiful promises! I love how God promises wonderful things to the meek too. (Working on both still…haha)
Me too! There are so many amazing promises when we surrender and follow God’s call!
Great reminders! I often think of a saying I’ve heard, that humility isn’t thinking too LITTLE of yourself nor too MUCH of yourself. It’s not thinking of yourself AT ALL…
Great way to put it, Carrie! Thanks!
Great post and I think this is so important for every Christian to remember.
The only thing that I will add is that sometimes God doesn’t make everything clear cut for us (i.e. what decisions to make) even when we are truly humble and surrendered. BUT even if he doesn’t make our next step evident, He is still pleased by our humility and will honor that….if that makes sense.
Of course, Kristin! We must trust His timing in revealing His will. Thank you for sharing that!
He says that the last shall become first – what a blessing that those who humble themselves will receive grace and be lifted up!
Definitely, Alex! 🙂
thank you so much
am so astonished because your good message