James 4 - Submit Yourself to GodНамуна

The importance of submitting to God

The words “Submit yourselves, therefore to God” are like a heading over everything that follows. True submission involves all of the things mentioned in verses 7-10. Firstly, it involves resisting the devil, i.e., rejecting Satan’s perversion of God’s ways. Again, we have to remember that the devil is not only seen in the occult but also, and perhaps especially, in a lifestyle that values money more than our neighbor. Resist the devil, says James, ‘and he will flee’. 

Submitting to God also involves ‘drawing near’ to him. What James asks of us is not some ‘lefty’ rejection of the habits of the rich; it is a personal move toward God himself, allowing him to have his way in us. 

Next, submitting to God involves washing our hands and purifying our hearts (verse 8). These are classic Old Testament expressions for the repentance that leads to God’s cleansing and mercy. James isn’t just trying to alert us; he wants us to find the fullness of God’s forgiveness.

Finally, submitting to God will often involve a godly sorrow for our wrongdoing: “Grieve, mourn, and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom” (verse 9). 

Then comes the wonderful promise of verse 10: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” Those who submit to God, who humble themselves before him, will be granted a high place in God’s eyes. Some in James’ audience had indeed pursued wealth at the expense of relationships, but the Lord’s brother wanted to remind them that God stands ready to cleanse the impure, to forgive the sinner, to lift up the humble. 

Degrees of repentance 

Some of us should read this passage simply as a reminder not to make the mistake of pursuing wealth and pleasure at the expense of relationships. We are to remain humble before the Lord and to continue resisting the devils' features of the world.  

Others will probably need to do more than just remember these lessons. You may look back on the last month or year and realize you have lost the biblical focus. You have concentrated on work, renovation, or the wardrobe instead of on what matters to the Lord. In whichever way is appropriate to your situation, ‘draw near to God’ and ‘purify your heart’. 

It is entirely possible that some need to hear James’ words with precisely the force and consequence he originally intended. You may be living at a great distance from God, daily pursuing wealth and pleasure at the expense of relationships.

James’ plea—our plea—is that such people turn back to the Lord and take hold of the grace he extends to the humble. Despite all the warnings and commands in the book of James, this is ultimately an epistle of grace. It is designed to highlight our errors so that we cast ourselves not on our moral capabilities—which are few—but on the Lord’s capacity for mercy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.