The God on high, who stooped down

Probably the most incredible thing about God is that as great and awesome as he is, he cares about us.

Psalm 113 starts with a call to worship, as the psalmist sings,

Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, you his servants;
praise the name of the Lord.

Let the name of the Lord be praised,
both now and forevermore.

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the Lord is to be praised.  (Psalm 113:1-3)

He then sings,

The Lord is exalted over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.

Who is like the Lord our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high…  (4-5)

In other words, “God is great!  He is awesome!  Who is like him?  Give praise to him, for he is worthy of it.”

But in the very next verse, he says,

…who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?  (6)

He then talks about how God takes those who are despised, the poor, the needy, the childless woman (this was a matter of great shame in those days), raises them up, and blesses them.  (7-9)

But not only did God stoop down to look, not only did he reach down from heaven to touch us, he actually came down among us and became one of us.

As Philippians put it, he emptied himself, taking our likeness.  (Philippians 2:6-7)

And because he did, he truly understands us.

More than that, he saw our greatest need and died on the cross, taking the punishment for our sins.

He didn’t have to do that.  He didn’t deserve to die.  But though he was on high, he loved us enough to come down and do so anyway.

So from the rising of the sun to its setting, let us praise his name both now and forevermore.