It’s Good to Be Humbled

It is one thing to be humble, to willingly bow our heads and hearts, just as the Word tells us in 1 Peter 5:6: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand.” But it’s something else again to be humbled. That’s what happened to the queen of Sheba.

In 1 Kings 10:4-5 we learn that when she saw “all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built...and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.” Solomon laid claim to far more than she’d envisioned. More wisdom, more wealth, more servants, and an infinitely more powerful God.

Why is it good to be humbled? From that lower posture we’re forced to look up, beyond this world and all its trappings, and see what Psalm 113:5 calls “the One who sits enthroned on high.” When we’re on our knees, pressed there by God’s loving hand, we finally grasp the superior Intelligence we are dealing with: The One who says in Isaiah 55:9, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Our brilliant queen was left stunned and speechless, breathless and overcome by the religious fervor of her host. Solomon was king, yet he honored One higher! Unheard of in that time and place when many sovereigns thought themselves gods.

Jesus said in Matthew 23:12, “Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” For all his wisdom and wealth, Solomon still humbled himself, walked in obedience, and worshiped the Lord. Sheba arrived with her wits and her gold on display, only to be humbled by a God who was slowly but surely drawing her into His embrace.

Only after Sheba was humbled do her spoken words appear in Scripture. It’s as if she finally had something to say—something worth remembering, worth recording for the ages. Now that she’d caught a glimpse of God through His servant Solomon, she was ready to put aside queenly posturing and speak from her heart.

Have you been humbled in the way Sheba was, overwhelmed by another person’s material and spiritual blessings to the point of speechlessness?

What did you learn from that experience?

How might Sheba’s humility have prepared her heart for God’s grand entrance?