Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul

by Hannah Anderson

us to cast the lot “into the lap” but still believe that “its every decision

Humility is understanding who God is and who we are. Humility remembers both your human limitation and God’s transcendent power.

humility teaches us to embrace desire as a means of learning to submit to God.

it is precisely this “slow reveal” that keeps us dependent on Him.

The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.” —Augustine of Hippo

Humility teaches us that it was never up to us in the first place. The same God who gives us our desires is the God who orchestrates how, and whether, those desires come to pass. And the hard truth is that they may not.

humility offers rest. If we are submitted to God’s hand, even our unfulfilled desires can be fruitful because our unfulfilled desires can be the very things God uses to draw us to Himself.

Part of humility means trusting God with our plans and submitting to the possibility that they will not be fulfilled.

part of humility also means trusting God with our plans and submitting to the possibility that they will be fulfilled in ways we cannot imagine.

“Only the humble believe … that God is so free and so marvelous that he does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Humility is something infinitely deeper than contrition … it [is] participation in the life of Jesus.” —Andrew Murray

Humility teaches us that God is actively redeeming the world. And because He is, we can experience the relief of confessing our brokenness—whether it is intentional sin, our natural limitations, or simply the weight of living under the curse.

Humility teaches us to find rest in confession. Rest from the need to hide, the need to be perfect. We rest by saying, both to God and others, “I am not enough. I need help.”

This rest only comes by submitting ourselves to Him.