Doesn't it often seem like all the bad news, all the bad things of this world simply overwhelm the good things? Today we hear of economic suffering for so many people, tomorrow another hateful shooting spree or terrible violence, and next week, who knows?
God knows we need to be reminded of His goodness. He knows we're blessed to keep our focus on His good gifts. And so we turn to His Word, always and full of hopeful expectations. Today we look at Psalm 113...
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
2 Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore!
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the Lord is to be praised!
4 The Lord is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens!
5 Who is like the Lord our God,
on the heavens and the earth?
7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8 to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of His people.
9 He gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children.
But wait, you might say, this is not very fulfilling! This psalm seems to be all about praising God, all fluffy, emotional stuff. This might seem like coming into your kitchen really hungry and finding only whipped cream and pudding to eat! But hold on, there is more here than feel-good emotions!
Yes, the Lord is high above us, He is great and beyond our understanding, and fully deserving of nothing but our praise, all the time. Yes, there is no other God, all other gods are false gods and tools of the devil to pull us away from the Lord, the one true God. But the really great thing about God is that He does not remain high above and far away! In fact, He doesn't only look far down on the heavens and the earth, on us. No, God sent His only Son, Jesus, to come far down to the earth, to be born a man, to become one of us.
Jesus lived among the poor, the needy and all of us, sinful & broken people that we are. Jesus became one of us, and died as one of us, but Jesus is so much more than one of us. Jesus is your Savior! Jesus willingly took upon Himself ALL the punishment that you deserve for your sins, and all the punishment that you WILL deserve for your future sins. Jesus took your punishment so that when you pray to Him "I'm sorry for...", He will respond with "I forgive you!".
And so, since Jesus has made you and me holy and blameless before our Heavenly Father, we do indeed sit with princes, with the princes of His people. Today we sit in honor, as forgiven children of God, and after we die we will spend eternity sitting around the throne of God with the great multitude from every nation [Revelation 7:9-14], praising God forever and ever!
God is love, and His forgiveness is the pinnacle of His love for us. Praise the Lord!
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