Get Low
Get Low
"For promotion comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge; he puts down one, and sets up another." (Ps 75.6-7)
"Therefore no other trees by the waters are ever to tower proudly on high, lifting their tops above the thick foliage." (Eze 31.14)
"He has put down the mighty from their seats." (Lk 1.52)
"For whosoever exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted." (Lk 14.11)
"Everyone that exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted." (Lk 18.14)
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time." (1 Pe 5.6)
From time-to-time, the call and warning goes out to the Church for people to get down low before the Lord...especially leaders. Some heed; some do not. As a consequence, some (like Pharaoh's baker in Genesis 40) disappear.
You see, Christian leaders together are God's hedge around His Vineyard. It is not for individual trees to determine their position or height, or to exalt themselves over others. The position and height of the trees will determine the hedge's strength, and thus its capacity to safeguard Christ's Flock. God and God alone constructs and maintains His hedge.
"A certain man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it." (Mk 12.1)
"I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up." (Isa 5.5)
"Whoso breaks a hedge, a serpent shall bite him." (Ecc 10.8)
It should not come as some kind of devastating surprise if, from time-to-time, the Husbandman turns His pruning blade upon the hedge to purge it, and tame it, and thus strengthen it...especially immediately prior to harvest!
Once again, God is calling upon leaders of the Church, in every part of the world, to "get low", because His blade is out and about to prune His Vineyard's hedge!
It's time most assuredly to "get low"...sort yourself out, so He does not have to. Get off self-appointed and self-constructed platforms before He adjusts and corrects the situation. Graciously pre-empt Him by putting your own sword right through the heart of "my church...my ministry...my vision...my message...my destiny".
(How some Christians and their leaders salivate over the demise of a politician they love to "hate", or a captain of capitalism they covertly envy. But, when the shoe is on the other foot?)
If this be the Last Hour, then the stakes are higher than they have ever been throughout the whole of Church History. "The boar out of the wood" and "the wild beast of the field" are ever-circling the Vineyard, looking for a faulty or weak point, so that they can break through to "waste and devour"! (Ps 80.13) But God is ever seeking those who will strengthen the hedge, and "stand in the gap" before Him, for His Vineyard. (Eze 22.30)
And He will surely obtain something much, much better than the "foolish" leaders of Ezekiel's day...crafty creatures, patrolling the ruins they've "built", in spite of their star-billing in the latest, greatest prophetical circus. And precisely because they are nothing more than foundation-less "apostles" and "blind" seers, they are failing in their pre-eminent and supreme responsibility to go up "to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house...so that it will stand in the battle on the day of the Lord."
Thus, His hand will be against such leaders, and they "will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of the house." (Eze 13)
And though their names once adorned glossy, glittering brochures, bill-boards and dvd clips, God's People may look and look, and search high and low for them, but "though you look with care where he used to be, he will not be found." (Ps 37.10)
It's time to "get low"!
"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." (Pr 16.18)
"A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honour." (Pr 29.23)
"When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." (Pr 11.2)
