Humility is not something that can be earned, learned, or absorbed. You have to be broken to obtain it.
I’ve listened to many who try to wear some ill-fitting garments of humility, but they just don’t seem to fit right on them. Oh, they sound like they are so humble, but it almost comes across like an excuse rather than something real. While they deprecate themselves to others, it sounds more like an attachment to cover up something that is trying to stick up through their clothing. The garment of humility is made from the same cloth as the mantle of authority in God.
Fake humility, on the other hand, has to refuse the mantle of true authority because it is not the same garment that they are trying to fit into. If one professes to be “oh so humble”, where will he get the holy boldness to stand up to take power and dominion over the works of darkness? They don’t fit together.
Pride, whether it manifests itself in arrogance or in a fake humility, is a result of measuring oneself up against those around you. When Saul was little in his own eyes, he hid in “the stuff” because he was afraid to become king. Two years later, he disdained the commandments of the Lord’s prophet to offer his own sacrifice to God.
Humility, however, does not measure itself against others, but against the Almighty God. With David, it was never about himself – it was always about God. That enabled him to slay Goliath in his youth and rule as king in his old age.
When God calls a servant to manifest His power, there is a cycle that he must go through. When the first miracles begin to flow through a person, it feels like the coolest thing that has ever happened to you. You are so excited that you can’t wait to tell others of the wonderful works of God. As you go on, however, a little voice starts to whisper in your ear which suggests that, yes, God did this miracle, but He chose you to do it. Sure, God could have chosen anyone, but hey, He chose you. That must mean you’re just a little bit special, doesn’t it? And then it stops — What happened? — and the soul-searching begins.
When you allow God to sand you back down to bare metal and let you see your own foolish pride, you make it possible for Him to take you to the next level. And so goes the building process: paint a layer, sand it down, paint a layer, sand it down. There is no one so holy and great that does not have to go through this process. You must be broken to go to the next level, because God will not share His glory with anyone.
Only after you have been broken so many times that your ego has been completely burned out of you, and your soul has surrendered and yielded to total subjection, can you ever be allowed to walk in real power. It is in the luster of that many-layered finish that true humility begins to shine with a light that does not come from you, but is reflected from the glory of God.
It is at this point that warriors are brought forth shouldering the mantle of God’s anointing and His authority – a mantle, not resplendent with glory of shining armor, but with the dull luster of sackcloth and ashes.