6Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
We all want exaltation, from the most egotistical of us to the most abased. We relish in it, or we mourn our lack of it. If interpreters are right, then Isaiah reflects Satan through the personage of the king of Babylon:
“But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’” (Isaiah 14:13–14)
He then infected Adam and Eve, who willingly followed suit:
“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God”. . . When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. (Gen. 3:5–6)
This desire to exalt ourselves to the place only God can occupy continues even into the new life in Christ—and it must be tamed. Therefore we need to be constantly vigilant in humbling ourselves before the powerful sovereignty of God. Yet the desire to be like God is not itself sinful, for we were created in His image and likeness (Gen. 5:3). We are already like Him!
In the fall, our likeness to God became skewed in the sense that it left us desiring what God had already intended for us but in an unhealthy, sinful way. Our new, fallen desire was to be like God, but without Him, and to pursue this in our own way. Therefore, the way back to living in the likeness of God is to humble ourselves in recognition that He is the mighty Creator God. Our likeness to Him does not extend to being independent of Him, for He created us, and is therefore infinitely more powerful than us. Our likeness to Him does not make us co-equals to Him.
Only in this way can we be exalted to where God created us to be. This comes only by submitting to Him who is exalted over all. All anxiety in life extends from getting this wrong. He is in control; He is God and we are not. He is over our fears, insecurities, and limitations. There is no one who sovereignly cares for you and me like He does. Our own self-love is enormously insufficient. Therefore, the only path to exaltation is not apart from God, but by humbling ourselves before Him!
Lord, I exalt You above all, for You alone are worthy of all praise and honor.
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