Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation–James 4:7

Welcome to today’s Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation covering James 4:7 where we learn of the great blessing of being near to God in humble submission.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

We like to think that we’re pretty strong–strong enough to walk in righteousness and abstain from wickedness.  And in this thinking we are entirely self-deceived.  You see, if you are a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, you have an enemy who is much bigger and smarter than you are.  But at the same time, you have a Friend who is infinitely bigger and smarter than your enemy.  If you are not a Christ-follower, you are being romanced straight into destruction; you need a Friend.

And so, if you find yourself in either category, you have a great responsibility both toward your preservation and productivity.  That responsibility is humble submission to God.  We find by looking back just one verse, that without this humility we will be opposed by the very One who we need as a friend!  God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  This kind of humility says, “I don’t know what I think I know and can’t really do what I think I can do.  I need You; I need Your grace.”  And God loves to give grace.  He will give this to us so that when the enemy, the devil, stands against us we will be able to resist his morsels.  He will remind us that our hunger pangs are not ultimately fixed by rotten strawberries covered in sweet chocolate.

What we discover happens following our resistance is completely amazing.  The “bigger and smarter than us” enemy runs off!  This again is not something for us to be proud of, a pride that would lead us into being opposed by our grace-giving God, but this is rather something that should work within us a deep gratitude for our all-powerful Friend that the devil knows he can’t conquer.  It’s a bit like a young boy being offered a cigarette by a “cool” high-schooler.  As the boy backs up and rounds the corner of the school building where his brother is standing (who happens to be Senior captain, football linebacker, pro-draft stud) smooth-talking cig-boy relapses back into puberty-voice and disappears.  The only pride little brother has at that point is in his big brother who had warned him of these things, even though he did resist the cigarette.

Let us submit ourselves to our great, victorious God, drawing near to Him continually through Jesus, resisting all that would stand in the way of that sweet, grace-filled relationship we’re meant to enjoy.

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