Humble Yourselves Before the Lord

DAVID

When King David murdered a man and took his wife, he hid what he did as well as he could.  But one day his personal prophet told him a parable revealing that what David had done was not secret.  This left David with certain options in how to deal with the issue. 
1.  He could have denied the affair, fired or killed the prophet for blashemy, and told the people around him that Nathan was lying.
2.  He could have admitted the affair and turn to the Law of Moses for the correct response - which would have himself killed for the murder of another man during the time of peace.
3.  He could do something else that was not in the letter of the Law...which he did.

What David did was not given to him through the Law, it was not Biblical in his day, but was a common practice.  When things got out of control, rather than maddly scrambling around, trying to fix what could not be fixed, David humbled himself before God and commited his way to Him.  It was a form of ultimate abandonment of self and self's abilities, and giving complete control to God; seeking and searching for his mercy and his forgiveness.

David knew he stood no chance with the Law.  He was guilty and deserved the death sentance, and yet he desired to be renewed into God's favor.  It was a tall order, but David did what was needed.

Where David Learned It

By David's day, humbling oneself before the Lord was common for any situation that was out of control.

I believe that the practice started with the death of loved ones.  When someone died, the living wailed, wept, and humbled oneself by fasting, throwing dirt on self, wearing sackcloth and even lying in a bed of ashes.  Even today, when someone near to a person dies, that person punishes himself/herself in a gut reaction.  This reaction can and did turn into custom for the people, so that widows wore certain dark/dreary clothing for long periods of time. 

Eventually, such grovelling and throwing self into emotional and physical debasement, became a way of life, not only in the face of death, but in the face of anything that was deathlike, that was out of one's control.  When plague, famine or other uncontrollable events took place, people reacted by refusing to celebrate, denying self-gratification, fun or happiness.

Over 200 years before David ruled, while living in the desert, Israel wept as a nation, when they wanted better food, but couldn't get any.

A few generations before David ruled, Israel had already wept together as united tribes (Judges 21) when they lost a battle against the tribe of Benjamin.  They wept again when they realized that Benjamin lost the war and was in danger of perishing entirely.

When David was faced with his own personal disaster, he broke his heart before God, fasted, prayed and sought the Lord.  Psalm 51 is taken from his own personal journey during this time.

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;

you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart,

O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:16-17).

THE PROPHETS

Many of the prophets told the people to repent (turn around).  As one studies the reaction of those who did repent, one sees that repentance was more than a simple "O.k. I won't do it any more."  Repentance was defined by more than that.  It was a turning around, but it was also a breaking of the heart and fasting before God.

When Jonah told Nineveh to repent (3:5-9), they and their animals fasted.

The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.  But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.  Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

When Joel (2:12-13) asked the people to turn to God and to repent (during a natural disaster that was not due to anyone's sin) they fasted and with weeping:

“Even now,” declares the LORD,

“return to me with all your heart,

with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

Rend your heart

and not your garments.

Return to the LORD your God,

for he is gracious and compassionate,....

In the days of Isaiah, Jerusalem was facing a disaster.  Every other  city was taken and destroyed in Israel and in Judah except Jerusalem, which was surrounded by the enemy.  There were a lot of animals and people in Jerusalem as people from the countryside brought their livestock and food into the city for hopes of safety.  The people inside the city had a lot of food that would perish in a short time; and they had a lot of sheep and other cattle that would need the same food the people had to survive.

Everyone knew that this siege would last for months if not years, and they knew that there was nowhere to go to refresh their stock of food.  In other words, they knew that if God did not deliver them, they were going to slowly die, bound up in their city without freedom to go out into the fields.

Months after the city walls closed, silence filled the nights with occasional cries as someone in some house was discovered dead from starvation.   But in the early days, right after the walls were closed with an army beginning to surround the city, the nights were filled with the noises of sheep, oxen, goats, and people singing and celebrating.

This is bazaar, but there was food that needed to be eaten or it would be wasted.  And people knew that death was coming soon, so they celebrated while they could.  And during these early days they sang. This is what Isaiah said about all of this in 22:12-13:

The Lord, the LORD Almighty,

called you on that day

to weep and to wail,

to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.

But see, there is joy and revelry,

slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,

eating of meat and drinking of wine!

“Let us eat and drink,” you say,

“for tomorrow we die!”

JAMES AND PETER

Both James and Peter addressed their letters to Christians, telling them that there was too much sin going on.  Both James and Peter told those Christians to turn to God:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.   Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.   Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up (James 4:7-10).

And 1 Peter 5:5-9:

“God opposes the proud

but gives grace to the humble.”

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

When things are out of control, or when you have utterly made a fool of yourself spiritaully or in any other way, humble yourself before God, and in time He will lift you up.