1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:”

1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”

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What’s the way upwards and forwards in life? How will you get higher?

The word “exalt” means “to raise high; to elevate”.

Is this you? Are you battling away trying to elevate yourself? Maybe financially, maybe socially, maybe spiritually? And as if you really have power to raise yourself up and keep yourself there?

The Bible says in Psalm 75 “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, Nor from the south. But God is the judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another.”

In life, we all get in our mind what we deserve, what we are entitled to and where we are trying to get to and be.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do well and having a higher destination in mind, but when we are trying to exalt ourselves without God, then there is a problem!

… Because we are all subject to the law of God much like the law of gravity in the end… and what goes up must come down.

Satan himself in Isaiah 14 is trying to exalt himself to a position above even God, and yet inevitably in the end the Bible says that God will bring him down to the sides of the pit.

In trying to get higher in ungodliness and unrighteousness, Satan is only going further down. And if you follow his pattern and path for you, you will end up down there with him.

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Are you trying to exalt yourself your way in your timing?

In 1 Kings 1, one of David’s sons, a bloke called Adonijah decides he’s going to be king, he decides to exalt himself to that position… but he is brought back to earth with a thud.

… because he was trying to take a position that wasn’t his, because it wasn’t given to him or for him from God, he didn’t believe that the “throne shall be established in righteousness.”

The error that Adonijah and his followers made in trying to exalt him to the throne was that they didn’t believe that God’s word was right. And if you do not think and live with an attitude of “God’s word is right and I am wrong” you’ll never prosper in the end either, doesn’t matter how high you might get at one point in your story arc… things were looking pretty good for Adonijah for a while there!

True, lasting exaltation is only possible through the righteousness of God, personally and nationally, which points us to Christ, because he is the only truly righteous man to ever walk this earth, and the Bible says God has “highly exalted” him, and he is the way we are ever exalted to where God wants us to be.

Yes, it does seem when you take a surface level glance, as the Psalmist did, that a Christ rejecting life does seem to go higher in this world… until we look a bit closer and see it more clearly “Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.”

And then being a Christian seems to make you go lower, it seems to always cost and it does, it brings you lower in the minds of others, and this society does not reward the fear of God… and yet God is still God, and he will still surely exalt you “in due time”.

In Genesis, Joseph’s pathway to exaltation was downwards for many years, and as he did right, he went from favorite son to slave to slave in prison… before God exalted him as governor of Egypt. Just stay with God, Christian! he’ll get you where you need to be in the end.

Even Christ’s pathway to exaltation was pretty low at first, because he “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” God isn’t like us and doesn’t work like us!

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In Luke 14, one day Jesus had been observing people’s seating behaviours at a feast, and how they all took the best places for themselves, the “exalted” “high” seats.

But then he noted how shameful it was for them when they were told to move, because those seats were reserved for others more important than they, and they had to take a much less “exalted” seat! That’s awkward, that’s humiliating.

And so Jesus said it’s best to humbly take the least place and someone to invite you to come sit up here… rather than to take the best place and be demoted to lowest. The first shall be last, and the last shall be first. Choose humility before Christ, obedience to God’s word, even if that puts you at the bottom of the food chain, and let God sort out your placement and the timing thereof.

… if you are humbling himself under his mighty hand, you are in the right place. Remember, his is a “mighty” hand. And it’s better to be nothing and have God in this world, because he is true riches “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

Yes, you might be bottom of the totem pole, last in the queue, but that’s fine when you have a highly exalted Saviour.

And I mean, it could be VERY low… for the apostles they were scum and filth of society. They were mocked, ridiculed, falsely accused, beaten and killed even … but they are forever exalted in Christ. God puts all things where they belong in the end, and it was never in doubt.

Maybe you’re reading this, maybe you made it this far, but you’re not saved, maybe repentance and faith in Christ seems like a very humbling and low step for you in life, maybe perhaps Christianity is beneath you…

… nevertheless the only true, lasting way up in life and eternity is through the person that came from up! As Jesus said, “Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.”

… The one who came from heaven’s glory and returned there … he’s the only one who can make a place for you there, who is able to and will exalt you to the heavenly place and promises he has for you in your life – the only place to be!

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