part 2 of the “7:14” series
As we continue to look at 2 Chronicles 7:14, we have come to our first word of focus. The word is humble. I have been encouraged in the past by a good friend, who has helped shape my teaching efforts, that when you are looking to talk about a specific word that sometimes it is good to just look up the definition of that word and see where it takes you. So, I have done just this for this post. I have looked up the word humble and here is the definition:
1. not proud or arrogant; modest:
2. having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience, etc. [1]
As I said in the post last week, there some people who would view this verse as only relevant to the nation of Israel. However, that is just not a fair interpretation of the verse. To view the verse in that way would put God and His words in a box and go against the fact that the Bible is timeless (Hebrews 4:12).
The word humble in this verse is speaking to all people as the verse starts with God saying “if MY people”. The world in most cases is not very humble. Everyone has their opinions and facts and in many cases refuse, because of their arrogance, see a different side of a matter. They are too proud of their views to listen to what another view could be. The proof of this is in the government of the United States. The proof is in the streets and cities of this country as well. Some people just are not humble enough to put aside their thoughts and views to take in the views of others. This cry from God for humble people is a cry to this nation, just as it was to Israel. If we can just find a way to be humble, we would be one step closer to the healing of this nation.
There is a good example of this in the movie Remember the Titans. The movie takes place in Alexandria, Virginia at a time where racial tension is at boiling point over the city’s consolidation of all public high schools into T.C. Williams High school. This decision made T.C. Williams a school that now had black and white students. This not only affected the school in general but also the football team as the movie follows. The football team is coached by Herman Boone, who was black, and Bill Yoast, who was white. The decision is ultimately made to make Boone the head coach and long-running coach Yoast would serve as the assistant under Boone. This does not help the tension between the players on the team. So Boone takes them off to a training camp to get ready for the season. He makes all offensive players travel in one bus and all defensive players travel in the other because they had all loaded into the buses with their peers of the same race. He also told them that who they were sitting by on the bus would be their roommate at camp. [5]
The one scene that stood out to me this last time watching it was the cafeteria scene. Boone calls one of the players, a white player named Louie Lastik, to come and stand with him in the middle of the cafeteria. Boone asks him some questions about himself and also offers to help him with his grades. Boone then asks Lastik to tell him about one of his black teammates. Lastik tells Boone about his roommate. He is then asked to talk about someone who is not his roommate. He tells Boone about how he eats lunch with “Rev” and that they both like the Temptations. After Boone dismisses Lastik, he turns to the rest of the team and asks them if any of them have something to say about one of their teammates. He even calls out some names. He then tells the whole team that “each one of you will time every day with a teammate of a different race. You will learn about him and his family, his likes, his dislikes. You will report back to me until you meet every one of your teammates.” [5]
What I noticed from this scene, is that not only was he getting them ready for football, he was getting them ready for life in their new normal as well. He was teaching them how to be humble and set aside their ego and their views and actually talk to and have conversations with their teammates. The movie even shows some of the struggles the players had in conversations with one another. But because they humbled themselves and did what their coach encouraged them to do, they became stronger as a team.
Our coach, God, is telling us to do the same thing in this verse.
But this whole thing needs to be led by those “who are called by My name”. Also, as I said in the post last week, we are all God’s people. This is true whether you want to believe it or not. God made every one of us on this planet. We are all His children. But this verse singles out a group of people and those people are His followers. Some people on this planet do not follow God and some do. (Just like in Israel by the way.) So God is telling us that all of His people should learn to be humble. But those “who are called by His name” should be the most humble of all and that is because we have an example of ultimate humility.
Jesus.
In John 13, we see Jesus and His disciples having dinner. This dinner is also known as The Last Supper [2]. While there is a lot of things that happen across the Gospel accounts of this dinner, John 13 records a humble moment with Jesus. Jesus gets up from the table and wraps a towel around His waist and pours some water into a basin so that He could start to wash His disciples’ feet. As He washes the disciples’ feet, Jesus gets to Peter who starts to refuse.
Peter was not refusing because his feet were clean. Peter was refusing because feet washing the job of a servant. People had servants who would wash the feet of people before they would enter the house. Back in that time, people wore sandals, if they had any and walked on dirt roads and so their feet were filthy. A present-day example of this would be when we take our shoes off before entering a house because the bottom of your shoes might be dirty.
But Jesus does wash the feet of Peter. Then He tells the group of men that He has set an example for them. This example that Jesus set for His disciples goes deeper than washing the feet of people. This was an example of how to be humble. As I described in the previous paragraph, washing feet was for a servant. So Jesus encouraging His disciples to wash the feet of others would mean that they would need to humble themselves. The group of men would have to put aside being too proud or good to wash the feet of another person and take on a humble form and wash feet. But there is another way that Jesus showed us how to be humble.
Jesus showed the ultimate act of humility when He left Heaven to come to Earth and die on the cross for us. Paul writes this in His letter the Philippian church:
"Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross." [4]
Jesus knew who He was. He was God. But Jesus also knew who we were and what we needed – a savior. So Jesus gave up His divine position and became human so that He could be our Savior. Jesus, while He was human, interacted, and had conversations with many different people from all walks of life. He listened to people. He felt their pain and sorrow. He felt their happiness and joy. Jesus stripped Himself down and was human even though He was God.
This is what I believe 2 Chronicles 7:14 is saying to us. The verse is calling us to be humble like Jesus was humble. This verse is encouraging us to sit down and put ourselves aside and listen to the views and opinions of others – even though they might be different. This is why this verse is relevant to us now.
Are we going lean into what the Coach is saying to us in this verse in 2 Chronicles?
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[1] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/humble
[2] The Last Supper passages:
a. Matthew 26:17–30
b. Mark. 14:12–26
c. Luke. 22:7–39
d. John. 13:1–17:26
[3] John 13:4-15
[4] Philippians 2:6-8
[5] Remember the Titans, Walt Disney. Direct quote, Denzel Washington playing Herman Boone.
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