. It is a heavenly grace. Maria
Sandberg, Glimpses of Heaven, 1880. All the angels stood around
the throne, and the elders and the four living creatures, and
fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God. Revelation 7.11. What of you
do we here obtain of the humility of those glorious and sinless
beings, the angels of God? They fall on their faces before
the throne when they worship God. How humble, then, ought
we to be, who are not pure and sinless creatures, but vile and
sinful dust and ashes, who have forgotten God and insulted Him
times without number! Humble indeed we ought to be,
yet we are proud, we dislike humility, except so far as God
graciously teaches us. Oh, it is He alone who can humble
our proud hearts and thus prepare us for the worship of heaven.
This He does by means of providential chastenings and afflictions. His design in them is to humble
us and prepare us for glory. And shall we shrink from the
process? No, let us lay our proud souls
at His feet, imploring Him to undertake the gracious work of
teaching them humility. Let us not fear the needful discipline. God is a tender Father. He only wants to make His creatures
truly happy. We shall taste real happiness
only as we possess, in any degree, this heavenly grace of humility. It is a heavenly grace, for it
is, as we see here, the disposition of the inhabitants of heaven.
It is a heavenly grace, for it brings into our souls a portion
of the happiness of heaven. Oh, let us not be afraid to lie
low at the foot of the cross, The valley of humiliation is
a pleasant and a fruitful place. There the smiles of the reconciled
countenance of our God are seen. There fellowship with Jesus is
felt. There love to man flourishes. There the painful and trembling
feelings of pride and selfishness are mortified. It is, however,
only in heaven that we shall attain to the perfection of this
grace of humility when we shall fully know ourselves, our vileness,
our unworthiness, and what we owe to redeeming grace and love,
then only shall we be truly humble, then only shall we be truly happy. Then shall we bid farewell to
the misery of sin and taste the enjoyment of full conformity
to the divine image of Jesus. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5.3