Proverbs 30:3

Humility comes before honor. God only lifts up those who get down. Wisdom and knowledge are only given to those who will admit they know nothing without Him. You can make a profound change in your life right now by learning this rule for His blessing.

The wise prophet Agur had already written, “Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man” (Pr 30:1-2). Then he added the words before you. These two verses together present the basic requirement of humility in order to obtain wisdom. The inspired seer used these words to humbly state his total dependence on God.

Solomon quoted David, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” (Pr 4:7). Life’s highest goal is wisdom. But only a few will pursue it by God’s rules. Only they will obtain it. Wisdom starts by admitting you know nothing. God will then give such a humble man much wisdom (I Cor 3:18-20).

Wisdom is only for a select few – those who admit they know nothing at all. Too hard for you to admit? Do not worry! You are with the great majority rushing through the wide gate to travel down the broad way to folly and destruction. Only a few use the grace of God to humble themselves to become truly wise and fulfill the highest calling in life.

If a man holds self-confidence or lofty thoughts about himself, the great God will bring him down to a foolish idiot, where he was all along, but did not yet realize it. Humility is the admission of these sober and important truths – you are nothing, and the Most High God is everything. Here is where you must start your pursuit of wisdom and greatness.

This proverb has the words of one of the wisest men ever – inspired words of greatness. Covet these words and the heart-felt conviction behind them. Strip your soul of self-confidence until you believe these words about yourself. Become a fool! The more ignorant the better! The lower you honestly put yourself, the higher God will lift you.

Humility is the key to open Heaven’s treasure vaults of wisdom. If you do not sincerely abase and humble yourself before God and men, you will not even find crumbs of wisdom. You will waste your ridiculous life inhaling the fumes of human folly, which will anesthetize you for your descent into the blackness of darkness forever (Pr 26:12).

Consider your wisdom. You arrived dirtying yourself. It took four years to color inside the lines, seven to ride a bike, sixteen to drive a car, twenty-one to be trusted with wine, forty to realize you are mortal, sixty to know you wasted your life, and eighty to fear what is next. You will leave dirtying yourself. You will meet an angry God unprepared. And you think you are wise? It would have been better if you had never been born.

Learn the lesson! Get down! Now! Desecrate yourself. Defile your opinions. Curse your confidence. Destroy your thoughts. Flush your intelligence. Memorize this proverb and repeat it to God and all men. It is your only hope. Beg the blessed God for mercy.

The LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God (Ex 34:14). “God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies” (Nah 1:2). He hates your love of yourself; He hates your haughty arrogance and high opinions; He will bring you down.

Any difference between you and others was by His choice. Anything you have, which is nothing but vanity, was given to you by God Himself. Why do you think and speak about it as if you chose or earned it (Pr 25:27; I Cor 4:7)? Get down! Think soberly about yourself! Do not think so highly of yourself (Rom 12:3; Gal 6:3; II Cor 10:12).

David said, “LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me” (Ps 131:1). The man after God’s heart, with tremendous achievements and universal acclaim, denounced his own wisdom. So God gave him true wisdom in abundance (I Sam 18:5,14-15,30; II Sam 14:20).

The young Solomon said, “I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.” He actually was a twenty-year-old genetic specimen with the best training and counselors in the world. But he knew the truth – by nature he was a fool in all matters of importance, due to the blinding and deceiving influence of sin on his heart (Is 44:20; Jer 17:9).

Humility is the key to the principal thing. Agur began teaching wisdom by admitting total ignorance. The key to wisdom is humility – rejecting your thoughts to totally accept God’s instructions. The way in which you receive instruction is one of the best indicators of how successful you will be (Pr 15:31-32). Examine yourself. How do you measure up?

If you lean to your own understanding, you will be cut off from even crumbs. If you destroy your high thoughts and fall down before God, He will pour out a liberal blessing of wisdom to you (Jas 1:5). True wisdom is simply rejecting all opinions – including your own – to dedicate yourself to His Word (Pr 3:5-6; Ps 119:128; Is 8:20; II Tim 3:16-17).

Jesus taught that the greatest men are those who humble themselves as little children (Matt 18:1-4). God will oppose any man who does not do this (James 4:6). Before Jesus Christ, this humbling of yourself should be easy. Say sincerely with John the Baptist, the greatest man born of women, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).