Day 6: Humble Your Soul

Throughout the Bible, God requires His people to humble themselves before Him. One important feature of all these Scriptures is that the responsibility to humble ourselves is placed upon us. James 4:10 says:

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:10 NIV)

In the Bible God has revealed to us a specific, practical way to humble ourselves: fasting. David reveals that fasting was the way that he employed to humble his soul, or to humble himself:

“I humbled my soul with fasting...” (Psalm 35:13 (NAS)

A clear example of the practice of fasting is in the Old Testament, we find in the ordinances for the Day of Atonement, what the Jewish people call Yom Kippur.

“And this shall be a permanent statute for you: (…), you shall humble your souls, and not do any work (…) for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you shall be clean from all your sins before the LORD.” (Leviticus 16:29–31 NAS)

God required His people to humble their souls before Him by collective fasting and so to qualify for the blessing that He wanted to provide. In other words, God did His part, but man had to do his.