6 But the grace that God gives is even stronger. As the scripture says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
7 So then, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you.
8 Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites!
9 Be sorrowful, cry, and weep; change your laughter into crying, your joy into gloom!.
10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (GNB) (See Note 1)
The case is not hopeless. God does not leave us alone to struggle with the influence of sin in our lives. This is a major difference between our Christian faith and all other religions or faith (including Judaism!).
V. 6 - “But the grace that God gives is even stronger. As the scripture says, ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ ” -“grace that God gives is even stronger” - Our spirits are strong, but not necessarily in a good way. Our natural spirit is opposed to being in the control of the Lord. Unfortunately, we aren’t so picky when it comes to being under the control of Satan. That is because we fool ourselves, being led by Satan, that we really haven’t ceded control. We must acknowledge that we relinquish control of our lives to the Lord. We do not need surrender to Satan, because by disobeying the Lord we essentially turn our lives over to Satan.
God is stronger than Satan. His grace is the only hope we have of defeating Satan’s influence on our behavior. God’s grace is greater than the Law.“The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20) God’s grace is a gift to us. “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24)
“As the scripture says“ - James quotes from Proverbs (3:34). In Psalms we hear that God holds the lowly, but keeps the proud or haughty at arms length (at a minimum). (Psa 138:6)
We are a proud and stubborn lot. We struggle at giving up control, or belief that we are in control. We must be humble enough to acknowledge that we NEED the Lord to save us. Being proud is dangerously close to saying you can make it without the Lord’s offer. Jesus disagreed, “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” (Mat 23:12)
V. 7 - “So then, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you.” -There is a line from a movie (I think it is “Once Upon a Time in the West”) when the villain says, “A man has got to know his limitations.” That fits this situation. I cannot resist the Devil on my own. But the grace of God is far, far greater than the power of Satan. Turn to the Lord, seek His help and power. Then, when you resist the Devil in the power and name of the Lord Jesus Christ, victory is the Lord’s (and yours). As you grow more confident in trusting the Lord you become less and less a victim of Satan’s wiles.
We must not allow ourselves to be led astray by falling to the lies of the Devil. There are at least two aspects of resisting Satan’s influence in your spiritual life. James give us two commands on how to repent and turn your back on the lures of the Devil.
First, and primary, you must submit to the Lord. As much as we struggle with this concept, we actually are involved in 'submission' throughout our existence. Some examples are: Jesus submitted himself to his parents (Luk 2:51); we need to submit ourselves to authorities (Rom 13:1); Wives are to submit to their husbands who commanded to love their wives (Eph 5:22-24); Servants and bond slaves submit in all circumstances (Tit 2:9, 1 Pet 2:18).
This idea of submission is not about being forced to submit. This is not about submitting at the point of a gun, but recognizing that the Lord is for you not against you.
The second step pairs with submission - resist. Take a stand against Satan. He has no ultimate power over us. Both of these steps are not done under our own power, but under the control and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
V. 8 - “Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners! Purify your hearts, you hypocrites!” -“Come near to God” - The beautiful thing about this is God wants us to come near to Him! Read Psa. 63:1-11 is good example of the desire we should have in our hearts when coming to God. Here are a few snippets from that Psalm: “My soul thirsts for You - my flesh yearns for You - Your lovingkindness is better than life - I sing for joy. My soul clings to You - Everyone who swears by Him will glory.” Does that sound like someone who is approaching God grudgingly? He will never turn is back on us when we approach His throne in joy and thanksgiving.
“Wash your hands… Purify your hearts” - These are ideas drawn from Psa 24:3-4. It is another poem about ritual, and also symbolic of inner purity. Drawing near to God is impossible in the carnal condition, in lieu of spiritual nearness. A natural man does not accept the things of God. (1 Cor 2:14 ) Is a pure heart a prerequisite to drawing near to God? Yes, it is. By our own power and effort the cause is hopeless. But God has solved that dilemma by the death and resurrection of His Son, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Again, submitting (there it is again!) to the Holy Spirit’s leading, and confessing our sin (agreeing with His assessment that we have sinned) will do this very thing - purifying our hearts. Under the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit we can be made whole and approach the throne of God without fear. We can rejoice knowing He wants to hear our pleas.
V. 9 - “Be sorrowful, cry, and weep; change your laughter into crying, your joy into gloom!. -“Be sorrowful, cry, and weep” - I do not believe this is telling us to flagellate ourselves with whips, moan and cry aloud (See the parable in Luke 28:9-14 - told to some people who trusted themselves to be righteous!). This is not at all about outward demonstrations but the spiritual grieving and moaning which happens at the realization of our disobedience. What is desired here is: “the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (2 Cor 7:10)
“change your laughter into crying, your joy into gloom!. ” - Quit trying to ‘laugh it off’. This is not the time to think, “It wasn’t all that bad.” You can make a compromise like this and convince yourself it is okay. The problem is the next incident will be easier to make the compromise, and so we spiral down. When we begin to realize the trouble we are in… This is not getting out of a traffic ticket, but facing the Living God who knows you in every possible way. We cannot ‘sweet-talk’ our way out of this. The price must be paid.
V. 10 - “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” - Being humble is the opposite of being proud. Your pride is able to convince yourself there is really no reason to confess your sin. Pride will stand in the way of you submitting to the Lord, which will get in the way of you admitting to the Lord that He is right and you have sinned. (Cf.: Pro 16:19; 3:34) The ‘proud’ are often referred to as ‘scoffers’ or ‘scorners’.
The pride is not the “I am so good…” attitude, but more toward “Who needs God? Who needs to listen and obey? I don’t need the Word of the Lord, because I can handle this.” Jesus taught this concept in a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector (cf.: Luk 18:9-14). One man was so glad he was not bad like these others; one of the others, a tax collector, cried out for mercy.
“he will lift you up.” - You won’t ‘lift you up.’ You cannot. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Only God can ‘lift you up.’ Trust Him. Confess to Him. He will forgive you, and you will be lifted up.
***Note 1: GNB = Good News Bible
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