Exaltation comes from the Lord (Ps 75:6-7). We should always keep it in perspective. By the world’s standards, you can be king of Israel, but you’re still king of a puny kingdom that is a miniscule proportion of the world’s population. More importantly, before the living God, any of us is but dust and ashes. Also, whether one is a king of Israel like David or an apostle like Paul, there are many enemies.
But if we think of exaltation relative to where we started, it is important to keep this feature in mind. God exalts the humble; he raises up the lowly. There may be those who climb to the top with vicious competition; that’s a rough way to try to live (and ultimately die). But blessed are those who humble themselves, serving where they are called, and letting God exalt as he wills. Blessed are those who, when exalted far beyond what they learned to expect through their earlier times of testing, recognize the Hand that has done this.
Blessed are those who recognize that, in the end, the Lord alone will be exalted (Isa 2:11, 17), and the honor will be his for what he has done for us. Pride leads to humiliation and ultimately destruction (Prov 11:2; 16:18; 29:23), but the fear of the Lord is wisdom (Prov 1:7; 9:10; 15:33; 19:23; 22:4). God preserves those who trust in him rather than human opinion (Prov 29:25). May we seek praise not from others but from the Lord (Rom 2:7, 10, 29).