Day 18 of Illumination: True enlightenment comes through and leads to humility.

“It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.””

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭6‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I’ve got to be honest with you. When a person has to go around telling everybody how “smart” or “enlightened” they are, you can just about be sure that they are definitely not enlightened, and probably don’t know as much as they think they know. I’m not trying to be unkind; it’s just the absolute truth.

I knew a person who you could not talk to for more than a few minutes without them telling you that they were a member of Mensa (a society open to those who score within the upper 2% of the general population on an approved intelligence test). Again—not to be unkind—but to my knowledge this individual never really accomplished anything of any merit, and further, was basically uninterested in doing anything for the Kingdom of God.

On the other hand, I have known individuals who never tried to flaunt their knowledge, and yet were more enlightened than most of their peers. My father was one of those people. He was mostly discounted by his self-aggrandizing peers, yet had a depth of enlightenment they could not even begin to even preview.

Now make no mistake, there are a lot of people who know about a lot of things; but true enlightenment is not about being able to ace an “intelligence” test or to speak like a walking thesaurus. True enlightenment is about recognizing the unsearchable riches of God’s knowing and allowing Him to escort us into the chambers of His glory where we learn from Him, heart to heart. Self-aggrandizers will never enter those chambers.

“He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭25‬:‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Humility before the Lord produces a receptivity in the innermost being into which the riches of God’s understanding can flow.

Additionally, humility before God binds the work of the enemy. Therefore, it is the thing that Satan attacks the most in the children of God. He seeks to keep us from gaining access to God’s understanding by provoking arrogance and self-seeking.

In our opening scripture we see the response Isaiah had when he beheld the glory of God. He was suddenly aware of his own lack and his own unholiness before a Holy God.

Isaiah‘s reaction to the presence of the Lord should be the reaction of anyone who has truly encountered the unsearchable grandeur of our God.

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.”

‭‭James‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I will warn you that the attitude of heart of which I speak is not that of self-deprecation. Indeed, the person who is self-deprecating is still focusing on themselves. True humility is not only recognizing the greatness of God’s understanding, but also knowing that He wants to share that with you. Remember, He desires to share His understanding with you—not because of who you are—but because of who He is.

We light an eighteenth candle of illumination today by knowing this:

True enlightenment comes through and leads to humility.

#25daysofillumination