What Attracts God?

Humility attracts God, and I don’t know about you, but I want…no I need…actually I crave MORE of God in my life. If you examine the people in the Bible who walked closely with God and experienced Him in amazingly, powerful ways, HUMILITY was evident in their lives. In my own walk with God, I began to experience His Presence more fully when I finally understood what it meant to humble myself before the Lord.

Humility is the landing strip that attracts God’s Presence

Humility is often misunderstood, especially for one who may not consider themselves prideful. Pride, however, encompasses more than just a haughty attitude or thinking of ourselves above another. Pride can also include self-reliance; trusting in our own ability and resources, which in reality is a false security, because we ALL NEED God. When we start to think, “I’m ok, I’ve got this!” we begin down a dangerous road. As the Bible says, “Pride comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).”

King Hezekiah was a perfect example of this when He flaunted his wealth and power before Babylon. Instead of pointing to God for all he had achieved, even after God saved him from death’s doorstep not long before this, Hezekiah became prideful. He began to believe they were his own accomplishments, gained from his own ability and his pride not only caused him to fall, but set up Israel to later become slaves of Babylon (2 Kings 20:12-19). We live in a society that actually encourages pride. We are taught to strive to attain material things, prestige, and all this world values and then “boast in our own accomplishments.” This is the way of the world, not God, for every breath we take is from God, and everything we ever accomplish or gain is gained with that very breath and ability gifted from above. The deep revelation of this truth, must be what compels us to walk in humility each day of our lives.

Humility is a complete dependence on the Lord. It’s seeing our desperate need for God and living in a way that reflects that need. It encompasses how we treat others, seeing the value of every person as one of God’s creation; but it’s also revealed in our attitudes and actions as we walk our walk before others. Humility can be seen and heard in our words and as our life continually points to Jesus.

Pride shines the spotlight on self, while humility reveals God alone.

David was a man after God’s own heart. He had a beautiful love relationship with God and was also used mightily by God. Unfortunately, pride crept and he fell hard, suffering the consequences of his fall and experiencing great sorrow over the temporary breach in his strong connection with God. Yet, David humbled himself before the Lord and God was attracted to that humility. Read the cry of David’s heart in Psalm 51:16-17:

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
    you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart

What does it mean to be broken before the Lord? It means to surrender our own will, ideas and self-reliance and choose to look to and depend on the One True and Living God. There are times, like in David’s life, we too need our heart to be broken before the Lord. This is a place of repentance. David prayed for a broken and contrite spirit. To be contrite is to feel remorse, to be repentant and choose to change. When we recognize the areas of pride and self-reliance in our own lives and repent from them, we can then become broken and humble before the Lord. The word broken may have a negative connotation to us, but understanding this spiritually, will give us a new perspective. God in His goodness sees our brokenness before Him and gives us a strength we never had before. His grace empowers us in our weak areas. Prideful, self-reliant people depend on their own strength which is faulty, and will always lead to a fall, but when we are humble before the Lord, He enables us with His grace. As His Word says, “God opposes the proud, but give grace to the humble (James 4:6).”

I have learned that being broken before the Lord is a beautiful thing. It can also be an extremely painful thing. The choice of how we become broken before the Lord is ours. For most of us, it takes trials to bring us to a place of brokenness. The pain of those trials causes us to run to God for help and many of us can testify of those times being some of the most significant moments of experiencing God in our lives. This is because God is attracted to our humility.

In my early walk with the Lord, it took painful trials to get me to this beautiful place with the Lord, because it was then I finally stopped trying to do things my way and surrender to HIS way, which is always best. Maybe you can relate. One day after years of bumps and bruises from my many trials, I finally realized that I didn’t want pain to be a precursor to His presence in my life, and in fact it didn’t have to be. I learned that I could humble myself before the Lord. I discovered I didn’t need a trial and I didn’t want that to be what brought me to the place of humility. This is maturing in the Lord. I began to seek the Lord about how to remain in a place of humility and His instruction through the Word brought me to a beautiful place in my relationship with Him. This place of continual humility before Him, is where the Lord wants each one of us, so that we can experience Him in more powerful ways than we have ever imagined.

In the place of humility, there are no barriers between us and God, We are open to hear what He has to say to us. We are open to correction and instruction, we are open to the deeper revelation that will mature us, and we are open to following His lead no matter how bold it may seem, so that we can live lives that truly glorify Him. This place of humility brings great peace and freedom to our lives. My heart is to grow in humility in my own life, so that I can experience more of God. Below I share a few things that I’ve discovered that keep me in that place of humility and allows the Lord to expose any areas of pride or self-sufficiency that I may need to deal with. Lord, create in us a clean heart as we surrender our lives to you. Let the humility of our hearts be a sweet fragrance to you.

1. Repentance: To repent simply means to turn from sin and turn towards God. Admitting we have fallen short is very humbling. Turning to God as our source places Him on the throne of our lives. Repentance is key to remaining humble.

• Gratitude: Acknowledging God for every good thing we have, even the very breath we breathe, keeps us in a place of humility. Gratitude reflects the knowledge of our need for God and our thankfulness for Him in our lives.

• Worship: There is nothing more humbling than worship. To worship is to bow down and exalt another. We bow our lives down before the Lord in worship, knowing He alone is God. Don’t wait for Sundays to worship. Put on some worship music and worship the Lord, and see how it brings you to a sweet place of humbly before the Lord. Obeying God is also worshiping, When we say not my will, but yours Lord,” we are humbling ourselves. Living a life or worship will keep us humble.

• The Word: We all need our minds renewed daily. The world’s messages will program us to live prideful, self-sufficient lives that lead to destruction. God’s Word is the truth that will set us free! When we spend time with the Lord by reading His Word, we are staying connected to the vine. In this our lives, will bear much fruit, and a humble heart is one area that will definitely be produced as we do.

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