Humility and Pride Surprisingly, then, there is in humility something that lifts up the heart, and there is in exaltation something that brings down the heart. It certainly seems somewhat paradoxical that exaltation should bring down and humility should lift up. Devout humility, however, makes the heart subject to what is superior to it. But nothing is superior to God, and so the humility that makes the heart subject to God actually exalts it. In contrast, exaltation expresses a fault, and, for that