You do not need to be a Bible scholar to know about the hand of God. Some of us might have heard of the finger of God in the encounter of Moses and Pharaoh, recorded in Exodus. There are places where the bible describes other parts of Jesus’ anatomy. But I am almost certain the elbow of God is an entirely new concept to us. And that is because I made it up from something somebody said as we studied the bible.
James 4.6 is where the Bible talks about God resisting the proud. Picture that with me as I watch God standing in a crowd of enthusiastic, even aggressive blessing-seekers. It could be in a church service, a special all-night service, or a crusade. Everybody is jostling to get the maximum blessing. God looks ahead and sees a candidate for blessing but these enthusiastic ones are blocking his easy passage. That is when the elbow of God comes into play.
Do you remember the last time you were in a crowd and wanted to move to the front? Recall how you had to elbow some people out of your way. It is the same with God. He often has to elbow some people out of the way. Not because he cannot go by some other means but because he wants to show them they are not candidates of his grace.
Who Qualifies For The Elbow Of God?
Now that you are familiar with the elbow of God, we need to find out who qualifies for it. Read James 4.6 and the answer becomes clear. It says “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” I hate to say it but if you are proud, you will likely get the elbow of God. He resists you from moving forward as he elbows you out of the way. Now, I am sure nobody wants God to do that to them. We would prefer that God welcomes us with open arms. Most of us love to be accepted in the Beloved, as we read in Ephesians 1.6.
Unfortunately, most believers are not accepted but are resisted by God. All we have is the elbow of God as he pushes us out of the way to get to the Christians he accepts in the Beloved. The Beloved is another name for Jesus. Right there, you see two separate qualities if you want to avoid the elbow of God. You must come to God through His Beloved, Jesus Christ. That is the first, foundational step. You have no part in God unless and until you take that step of surrendering your life to Jesus. Once you do that, you next humble yourself under God’s mighty hand to avoid the elbow of God.
God Remains Good
Because God is a good God, He makes the second step easy once you take the first step. True Christians, not those who think they are Christians just because they attend church every day, are generally humble. They know what Paul knew when he wondered in 1 Corinthians 4.7 why you boast about your accomplishments. He asked, “And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”
That is pure pride and the proud get nothing but the elbow of God. Your degree in accountancy or whatever, do you have it because you studied hard? No, it is because God did not let you run mad while you were studying so hard. I know a lady who studied so hard that she ran mad when the examination came.
But God did not let that be you, so what are you proud of? So, you need at least two things to help you avoid the elbow of God. First, you have to be accepted in the Beloved (Jesus Christ) when you give your life to Jesus. Second, you have to stop being proud because God resists the proud.
A King Gets The Elbow of God
That is a lesson a king did not learn early. Perhaps you know of King Nebuchadnezzar in the bible. If you believe you are not making progress and that God may be resisting you, read the account. In Daniel 4:28 to the end, God helped that king until he was great. But his pride did not let him see God behind his success. He thought he succeeded because of his ability. He arrogated (that is where arrogance comes from) his achievements to himself. Ouch! I pray that God will help you never to do that.
In all situations, return all the glory to God. And guess what, God will give you more grace as we see in the James passage. This King refused to give God the glory for his success and he saw the elbow of God. God threw him out of the palace, took his clothes off until he was naked, and chased him into the forest. There, he lived like an animal, and his body hair became like a lion’s fur. His fingernails grew to become like claws and he ate grass. I pray that such a situation will never happen to us.
Because of the king’s pride, he did not receive grace from God. All he had was the elbow of God. If you have been with Heaven Readiness since the start of this year, you may be wondering how this fits into the positive problem series. On the face of it, it does not but our next post will go into greater detail about this arrogant king. And then, you will see as God brings good out of this horrible situation into which pride threw the king.
Meanwhile, remain in Jesus.
Maranatha
