"BEFORE DESTRUCTION THE HEART OF MAN IS HAUGHTY." God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. The Lord always humbles before He exalts. He strips us before He clothes us with the best robe. He empties us before He fills us with His grace. We must take our seat on the dunghill before we are raised to sit with the princes of His people. It is the weak that He strengthens, the poor that he supplies, the condemned that He justifies, the homeless that He receives, the totally unworthy that He crowns with glory. We must become nothing if we would inherit all things. We must be quite empty if we would be filled with all the fulness of God. He gives grace unto the humble. Joseph must lie in the dungeon before he is seated in the second chariot of Egypt. David must be hunted like the partridge upon the mountains before he is raised to the throne of Israel. Paul must be a poor blind sinner before he becomes the great Apostle. This is God's plan. The righteous who are now accounted the offscouring of all things are destined to shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Beloved, fear not to go down ; the lower you descend in humility, the higher you will rise in glory: the deeper your penitence, the sweeter your joys.

For Meditation:
He draws from human littleness,
His garden and renown;
And humble hearts with joy confess,
The triumph all His own.