Comfort For Those Who Hurtಮಾದರಿ

Humiliation Changed to Humility

Humiliation is deeply painful. Humiliation comes when embarrassment is prolonged and prestige and status are lost. It is a confusing state to live in. People relate to humiliation like leprosy. Humility is admired while humiliation is looked upon with suspicion, even disdain. At best it receives pity. It’s ominous to just survive in shame. 

People you thought would be at your side during this time of disgrace have walked away. Their excuse is they don’t know what to say. This may be true, but beyond their speechlessness is a fear of association with failure. They are afraid others will think they are condoning your situation or that others will see them as afflicted with your same ailment. You are mortified. You feel abandoned by God and betrayed by people.

Let God love you through this hard time. As Job lamented, “’Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him’” (Job 13:15). 

You are on the precipice of depression, and it’s entirely possible you have fallen over its edge. You feel paralyzed— bewildered. But your life may not be as bad as it seems. Do you have your health? Does the Lord love you? Are you still in business? Maybe you have blown it beyond belief, and to your chagrin you find yourself at the lowest point of your life, but what humiliation tears down, humility can build back up in Christ. 

God is our God of multiple chances. He understands, forgives, loves, and brings beauty out of pain. You can do nothing to erase the past or clear up all the misunderstandings. What you can do is allow God to use this time of shame to bring Him fame. He can be trusted, and He is faithful even through the depths of despair. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. Every pseudo hope brings disappointment and delayed pain. Turn to your empathizing Jesus, and He will soothe and heal your soul. 

We have an obligation to give hope to those hung up in humiliation. Do not try to diagnose their situation. Rather, pray for them. Be there to listen to them while also pointing them back to Jesus. Help transform their humiliation to humility by restoring them. 

Have I allowed the Lord to transform my humiliation into humility? What humiliated person can I humbly serve?