Humiliation of soul always brings a positive blessing with it. Always! If we empty our hearts of self, God will fill them with his love. Do you desire close communion with Christ? Then remember the word of the Lord: "This is the one I look at with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and tremble at my word."

Stoop if you would climb to heaven! Do we not say of Jesus, "He descended that he might ascend"? So must you. You must grow downward to grow upward, for the sweetest fellowship with heaven is to be had by humble souls, and by them alone.

God will deny no blessing to a thoroughly humbled spirit. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" — with all its riches and treasures. The whole treasury of God shall be made over by deed of gift to the soul humble enough to receive it without growing proud because of it. God blesses us all up to the full measure and extremity of what is safe for him to do. If you do not get a blessing, it is because it is not safe for you to have one.

Think about it! If our heavenly Father were to let your unhumbled spirit win a victory in his holy war, you would pilfer the crown for yourself, and meeting with a fresh enemy you would fall a victim. So you are kept low for your own safety.

But when a man is sincerely humble, and never ventures to touch so much as a grain of the praise? There is scarcely any limit to what God will do for him. Humility makes us ready to be blessed by the God of all grace, and fits us to deal efficiently with our fellow men. True humility is a flower which will adorn any garden. This is a sauce with which you may season every dish of life, and you will find an improvement in every case. Whether it be prayer or praise, whether it be work or suffering, the genuine salt of humility cannot be used in excess.

You cannot have too much of it. You simply cannot.