What does James 4:10 mean?

Everybody wants to be exalted. We all want to be glorified. Maybe we wouldn't say so. Maybe we don't feel it all of the time. But part of the motivation for living according to the world system is to get exaltation for ourselves. This comes in having the things we want, getting the respect we feel we deserve, or living in the comfort and pleasure we crave. God asks us to quit the world's way of pursuing those things. Instead, He calls us to trust Him to exalt us when the time is right without trying to get that glory for ourselves.

That requires real humility. We agree not to make our daily lives about ourselves, and our God promises to make it about us when and how He sees fit. That's how Jesus lived, after all. Paul described Jesus's life on earth in Philippians 2. Jesus, God Himself, refused to fight for His right to be glorified. He "made himself nothing" (Philippians 2:7, NIV) and became a servant, even to death. Then, when the time was right, the Father exalted Jesus to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name (Philippians 2:9).

God calls us to walk that same path: Humility today, God's glory forever.