06Apr
My wife, Cheryl, and I recently watched a movie about the competition between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. Westinghouse was about to reveal his latest phase in the race to bring electric lights to the world. Westinghouse and his chief engineer stood before the master switch having a friendly argument with each asserting that the other should have the honor of throwing the switch, which would fill the streets with light. After a few moments of each insisting the other should have the honor, Westinghouse’s wife, Emiline, stepped up and threw the switch. Everyone was pleased with the action.
It may seem odd, but reading 1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” (NIV) made me think of this scene. The Greek word translated “Humble yourselves” is in the passive voice. That means that the subject, the one humbled, is being acted upon. Therefore, God does the humbling. But wait, there’s more. Please be patient with a brief “grammar spasm.” This passive is called a “permissive passive,” which means the subject, the one humbled, must consent to be humbled. So, while someone else is doing the humbling for a reason of their own, the person being humbled holds control over whether the humbling happens. The passive recipient controls the initiation of the process done to them.
And why would I want to be humbled? Because the whole point is, “…that he [God] may lift you up in due time.” OK, I like the idea of God lifting us up, don’t you? God must first, through humbling, move us to the place from which we can be “lifted up.” God does the work, but I throw the master switch that initiates the whole process that God has developed and energized.
As we go through this crisis, or any of life’s challenges, “in due time,” God will lift us up if we consent to the humbling process!
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