Humility Wins Where Force Cannot

In the kingdom of heaven, weak things become mighty and mighty things often prove to be useless. God seeth not as man seeth, and the things that are held in high esteem among men may be scorned by the Most High God, maker of heaven and earth.

That carnal courage so prized in the kingdom of Adam may be the direct cause of constant and humiliating defeat among Christians. God will not be under the necessity of using fleshly means to accomplish His spiritual ends. The bold “strength of character” which helps men to forge to the front, to get the best jobs, to overawe their opponents, may stand squarely in the way of all efforts to progress in the life of the Spirit. God still gives courage to the faint, and He knoweth the proud afar off.

From Adam we inherit the instinct to meet our enemies head on, to try to win by direct assault, and it is only after many shocking failures that we learn that victories are not so won in the realm of the spiritual. The carnal approach usually does little more than to alienate the enemy still further from us and, worse than all, it puts us in a position where God cannot help us. The enemy never quite knows how to deal with a humble man; he is so used to dealing with proud, stubborn people that a meek man upsets his timetable. And furthermore, the man of true humility has God fighting on his side – who can win against God?

Strange as it may seem, we often win over our enemies only after we have first been soundly defeated by the Lord Himself. God often conquers our enemies by conquering us. He defeated Esau by defeating Jacob the night before on the bank of the Jabbok. The conquest of Esau took place in his brother Jacob. It is often so. When God foresees that we must meet a deadly opponent, he assures our victory by bringing us down in humbleness at His own feet. After that, everything is easy. We have put ourselves in a position where God can fight for us, and in a situation like that, the outcome is decided from eternity.

Taken from, "We Travel an Appointed Way" by Dr. A. W. Tozer