Not long ago, I had a conversation with a friend who was lamenting certain aspects of his life story with the thought that his background didn't really offer him many advantages in life. In his estimation, he didn't grow up in a place of prominence. He didn't come from a family that was well off financially. And he treated these aspects of his personal experience as if they created some sort of upper limit that might hinder him from doing meaningful things.
Hearing him reflect on his life caused me to reflect on my life as well, and it made me ask the question, "If you come from humble beginnings, does that create an upper limit on how God might be able to use your life?"
I started reflecting on some of the things this world might tell me were my disadvantages. I grew up in a part of Pennsylvania where poverty and drug use are far too common. Our family experienced major conflict and disruption when I was in elementary school. My parents didn't stay together. I moved twelve times before graduating high school. Two of those homes should have been condemned. One was eventually torn down because it was beyond repair. The most stable house I lived in during that time was a government subsidized apartment complex.
We didn't have much money. Our utilities were regularly shut off, and I had no idea that the large blocks of cheese we were regularly snacking on were supplied by a social assistance program run by the state. As soon as I finished high school, I left town and rarely came back to visit. I borrowed money to go to college without realizing how hard it would be to pay back, worked two jobs while taking classes to help pay for school, got married the day after I finished my last class, and started my first full-time job as a pastor at a small country church a few weeks later.
By the grace of God, my adult life is much different than my childhood was. The Lord has blessed me in ways I certainly don't deserve, and I'm grateful that He protected my mind from adopting the belief that the disadvantages I experienced at a previous stage needed to define my life going forward. He's also been teaching me that some of those early disadvantages were actually blessings in disguise that have been a great advantage to me in other ways.
What about your story? Do you come from humble beginnings? Have you mistakenly believed that those humble beginnings might prevent the Lord from doing something really special with your life? Could it be possible that the Lord gave you your humble beginnings as a gift to teach you things you wouldn't have learned any other way? Is it also possible that He was using your humble circumstances to prepare your heart to understand what really matters most in this world?
I. Your starting point doesn't need to be impressive for you to be effective
"Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him." (Exodus 2:1-4)
One of the most revered men of the Bible is Moses. Many of us look at his life and his faith, and we're in awe of the ways the Lord used him to do some very significant things. But how much time do we spend thinking about where he started and how many things were stacked against him at an early age?
At the time Moses was born, the people of Israel lived as slaves within the borders of Egypt. They had lived there for 430 years, since the time of Joseph, but as their population grew, the Pharaoh became concerned that their numbers were growing too rapidly and they might pose a threat to the security of the nation. He ordered that they be oppressed as slaves and that their infant sons be murdered. Specifically, he decreed that their baby boys be cast into the Nile River.
That obviously posed a dilemma for every God-fearing Hebrew family, and when Moses was born, his mother did her best to hide and protect him. She did this as long as she could, but by the time he was three months old, that wasn't possible any longer. So instead of tossing him into the Nile, she did something shrewd. She took a basket, made it water-tight, put Moses in it and placed the basket in the reeds by the river bank where it wouldn't float away. His older sister kept watch over him from a distance. This was done at a location where Pharaoh's daughter would come and bathe, and when she saw the baby, she had compassion on him and raised him as her own son.
When you look at the details of Moses' life, you can see the hand of God upon him the entire time. His life presents a series of low moments and high moments, but it was clear that the Lord was lifting him up and putting him right where he needed to be in order to do what he was called to do.
When I look at Moses' life, I'm also reminded that your starting point doesn't need to be impressive for you to be effective. You might be born among slaves that are forced to give you up. You might be floating in a little basket on the edge of the Nile, unable to do anything for yourself other than cry. But if God has a plan for you, which He most certainly does, He can orchestrate the most unlikely of circumstances to work in your favor and cause you to be raised up. He can rescue your seemingly hopeless life and put you in a place where you can impact the lives of many others for their good and for His glory.
II. A humble life is a useful tool in the Lord's hands
"Moses was a very humble man, more so than anyone on the face of the earth." (Numbers 12:3, CSB)
Humility is a word we're all familiar with, but many people define it incorrectly. Most often when I hear that word used, people seem to think it means to think poorly of oneself or to be somewhat down on yourself. But that's not what biblical humility looks like. Biblical humility involves understanding who you are in relation to God. God is perfect, we are not. God is all-knowing, we are not. God is creative, and we are creative on a lesser scale because we were created in His image. God is powerful, and those who trust in Jesus have access to His power, a power much greater than our own. That's the essence of biblical humility. We understand who God is and we understand who we are in light of that truth.
"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less." -C.S. Lewis
"A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you." -C.S. Lewis
George Washington Carver, the scientist who developed hundreds of useful products from the peanut once stated, “When I was young, I said to God, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the universe.’ But God answered, ‘That knowledge is reserved for me alone.’ So I said, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the peanut.’ Then God said, ‘Well, George, that’s more nearly your size.’ And he told me.” -Adapted from Rackham Holt, George Washington Carver
A humble life is quite useful in God's hands. I think that becomes pretty clear when we observe the life of Moses. I also think it's fascinating to consider that Scripture tells us that during the course of his life, there was no one on the face of the earth who was more humble than Moses. I suspect that interacting with God as much as Moses did certainly helped him develop an attitude of humility that genuinely glorified the Lord and put Moses in a position where God could steer his humble heart.
Is your heart open to being steered by the Lord? Are you needlessly berating yourself and perpetually putting yourself down, or have you developed a mature understanding of who you are in light of who He is?
III. Humility helps you identify and meet the needs of others
"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus," (Philippians 2:3-5)
Recently, a friend was telling me about what Christmas was like at his home when he was a child. He told me that his mother would lavish more gifts upon him and his brother than they knew what to do with. She had grown up with very little so she made a point to bless her sons with everything she felt like she once lacked. In fact, she spent the majority of her adult life caring for the needs of her sons, even at great personal cost to herself. This was her expression of love.
When we adopt a mindset of biblical humility, we learn to identify and meet the needs of others, even if the process of doing so is costly and painful. There's no greater example of this than the sacrificial service we see demonstrated in the life of Jesus. Even though Jesus is one with the Father, He didn't selfishly hold on to His divine rights and privileges. Rather, He submitted Himself to the will of the Father, demonstrated perfect humility, and placed our needs above His own comforts when He came to this earth to secure our salvation.
It's also interesting to observe that when Jesus came to this earth, He wasn't born in a castle. He was essentially born in a barn to two humble people who weren't highly esteemed by this world. And after His birth, the first visitors to come and see Him were a band of simple shepherds who were humble enough to listen to the instructions of the angels who announced His birth.
If Jesus Christ, the Son of God who created and sustains the universe by His powerful word was willing to exhibit humility in order to serve us and meet our needs, what kind of mindset should we be aiming to develop as the Holy Spirit transforms the way we think and live in this world? Our mindset should be the exact same as the mindset of Jesus where we look not only to our own interests, but the interests of others.
IV. In the Lord's system, the humble will be exalted
"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 14:11)
In the world's system, the humble are pitied. In the Lord's system, however, the humble are lifted up. Jesus made it clear that the humble will be exalted while the proud will eventually be humbled.
So if you're interested in pursuing the dreams, desires, and calling God has placed on your life, don't disqualify yourself from those possibilities just because you may come from humble circumstances. From what I see in God's word, He has a great habit of taking people with humble beginnings and doing things with their lives that are far beyond anything they would have expected or imagined.
© John Stange, 2021
