1 Peter 5:5 Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
A repeated theme throughout the Scriptures is that of the Great Reversal. God reverses the status of persons bringing down the high and lifting up the lowly. The Lord promises Grace to the Humble. We use this promise to keep our cool, stay calm, endure injustice, bear with false accusations, and accept the seeming unfairness of life. All things will be put to rights and justice will be served in the end. With this promise we can endure and wait patiently for it.
This sounds like a conditional promise: if you are humble, then God will give you grace. But in actuality, it is all God’s doing since He makes humble and grants humility. Then He gives Grace. The Spirit through the Word creates a heart that is humble and lowly, penitent and sorrowful, and ready to receive grace. The proud, self-righteous old man still living in us stubbornly resists the Word of God and the motions of the Spirit to break the hard and stony heart within. Then we hear these sad words: ”God resists the proud.”
We exhibit the humbling words and motions of God by repentance and confession of sin. We exhibit the gracious words and movements of God by believing the gospel, receiving Jesus, and confessing Him as Lord.
This grace promise is exemplified in the story of the rich man and Lazarus: ”But now he is comforted and you are in anguish.” So employ the promise to entrust ourselves in the Lord’s hand forever.