There is a difference between being humble before God, and being humbled before God. I any humbled before God, because I have not been humble. I am humbled, because of my sin. If I had been humble, 1 should have had grace given me to prevent it. For "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
The only humble place is the presence of God. It is when I get out of His presence that I am in danger of being lifted up. People say it is dangerous to be too often on the mountain. Now I do not think that it is when we are on the mountain that we are in danger, but when we come down from it. It is when we come down from the mountain that we begin to think that we have been there. Then pride comes in. I do not think that Paul needed a thorn when he was in the third heaven. It was after he had come down that he was in danger of being exalted above measure—from thinking that he had been where no one else had been.
I do not believe that to think badly of ourselves is true humility. True humility is never to think of ourselves at all and that is so hard to come to. It is constantly, I, I, I.
What hearts we have. "I the Lord search the heart." Who but God can know them? People who think they search their hearts and are quick to tell what they find there, do not really know their hearts, nor are they truly humble. The fact is, they must be talking of themselves, and their pride is nourished even by telling of how evil they are.