It’s the irony of humanity that, in aspiring to being godly, we discover the secret of humility.
If Job is going to try out for the position of God, he needs to repurpose his anger—or, as God calls it, “the rage of your wrath” (Job 40:11)—and focus that energy on one project. “Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; tread down the wicked in their place. Hide them in the dust together, bind their faces in hidden darkness” (vv 11-13). Pride is at the heart of every sin, putting self before God. It was Lucifer’s pride that brought the whole thing crashing down, the sin he taught the human race. It will find its nadir when “the man of sin…sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess 2:3-4). Of couse, God knows how to humble us without humiliating us. Nonetheless, the path up is down, “and whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Mt 23:12). Eliphaz had exhorted Job, “When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly” (Job 22:29, MSB). When man elevates his thoughts of himself, the Lord necessarily is dimished in his eyes and the reverse is also true. John gives the equation: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). Paul stated it simply: Not I, but Christ (Gal 2:20). How strange that every benefit, every skill, every accomplishment that God gives to man, he uses it to vaunt himself against God. I recall hearing of a young man who prayed, “Lord, humble me!” An older believer interjected, “Don’t do it, Lord. Let him humble himself!” “Be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet 5:5-6).