It seems counter-intuitive to say we need confident humility or humble confidence, but bear with me. It’s not as absurd as it may sound, and there is more than enough research to confirm that the best leaders are confident and inspire confidence when they are also personally humble. Why are both needed, and does it matter?
The word humble has it’s roots in the Latin word humus, or “earth”. To be humble is therefore to be from the earth or down to earth. It helps us to understand the beatitude “blessed are the meek (or humble) for they will inherit the earth” (Matt 5:5). Being of the earth, they inherit the earth. Gen 2:7 tells us that we are made from the dust of the earth – we are made of humus and as “earth people” should be humble. But it is into this humus that God breathes life. Humus plus God’s breathe becomes life. It is richly suggestive… when we are humble enough to recognise that we are made from dust, we receive God’s breathe and become animated beings – made in God’s image. That is reason enough for both endless bragging and endless modesty.
Humility is not about being weak or uncertain. It is about remembering our origin from the earth. It is about noting our frailty. The humble ask questions and are curious about life. They readily acknowledge that they don’t know everything, and so they lean in to discussions and pay close attention, always open to learning more. In fact, without humility learning is near impossible, because the arrogant assume they already know. The humble realise they are mere dust, and can be blown away by the wind of opposition or unseen circumstances. They are humble enough to know that without the breath of God, they cease to exist. They see no shame in being dependant upon God, for they know it is the only path to life.
Strangely, that is why they are also confident. Because they are not self-dependant but God-dependant, they know they are surrounded by a strength far greater than they could ever personally generate. “If God be for us, who can be against us” (Rom 8:31) is their calmly confident claim. At a quick glance that may sound arrogant, but it is the opposite. It is a statement about where our strength and confidence comes from. The origin is not in ourselves, but in God’s existence, compassion and grace. Put slightly differently, our confidence flows not from who are but from whose we are. I belong to God and because God’s word is the first and the last, I am not unduly fussed by the words that flow in the middle. We start and end with God – what comes between is little more than bluster, and should not cause us to lose sight of the big picture.
Virtues can have a shadow side.
If humility is a virtue, when does it become a vice? When it is false humility (pride posing as humility) or when it is used as an escape from responsibility (“Sorry, I’m not talented enough. I can’t do that” when we actually mean, “Sorry, I’m not motivated enough so I won’t do that”). Humility is a vice when it justifies the death of dreams (“we could never do that”) or hordes talents that should be used for the good of all (“I struggle enough to manage myself, let alone helping anyone else”).
While we don’t often list confidence as a virtue it becomes one when it transforms our excuses into options (we can look at this differently and try another way), when it helps us move beyond inertia, and when it flows from good preparation (and it takes humility to prepare well). Confidence in the loving kindness of God births courage, and helps us to achieve what we might otherwise not attempt.
In Ps 121:1-2 the Psalmist writes, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from?” He then give the counter cultural answer, “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” Having looked at the beauty of the surrounding hills, we might think the answer would be that help comes from those hills. But the Psalmist remembers the bigger picture, “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” God is so much bigger than our immediate context, be that beautiful hills, or a desperately worrying landscape. Our help is always from the Lord.
Without doing an injustice to the text we can substitute the word confidence for help. “Where does my confidence come from? My confidence comes from the Lord.” Put differently, when I am humble enough to trust the goodness of God, I can be quietly confident that God will not let me down.
I hope that this week is one when you are able to humbly but confidently trust in the kindness of the God who is our Creator, Redeemer and Friend…
Nice chatting…
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Thank you Brian