Monday 28/1/13

James 4:9-10 ESV

Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

I don't think God wants us to be wretched, mourn, weep or gloom for no reason nor all the time. I believe these verses exalt us to humble ourselves before God. When we self examine our conducts against God's commandments (such as love God with all we have, love our neighbors as our selves, seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness), we easily find our short coming. When we evaluate how we are doing His commissions (such as fill the earth, harness it, and rule over all animals; or go to all the world, share, baptize and make disciple), we easily recognize that we neither do them well nor focus on doing, as individual or as a whole. These things should make us sober (or weeping and gloomy as above), and humble ourselves as we recognize our shortcomings.

The good thing is God understand our weaknesses, and He is merciful. As we humble ourselves, God will forgive us and help us overcome our shortcomings, one by one. In that way, He will exalt us and enable us to do better things in life.