The first casualties of upheaval can be love, kindness, and patience. But crisis is also a moment when love for God & one another can spring up. For 150 days, starting on 17th March 2020, I will write 300 words based on one of the 150 psalms in the bible. How can I find and give love in the midst of coronavirus?
Not long ago, if you wanted a bird’s eye view of the world, you had to climb into a plane or a helicopter. I remember a journey in a single-engine aeroplane over the Loire valley in France. My sister and I looked down and saw things we couldn’t possibly see from the ground.
Now, all you need is a drone with a camera and anyone can capture stunning images and video of almost anywhere on the earth’s surface.
Psalm 113 is the drone’s eye view:
1 Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, you his servants; praise the name of the Lord. 2 Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and for evermore. 3 From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. 4 The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.
From east to west, over every nation, through the heavens – the Lord is to be praised. But this is not the view from a plane or a drone – it is from God’s throne in the heavens:
5 Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, 6 who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?
The bible says again and again that God sits on a throne – looking over all the earth.
But, and it’s a big but – it’s what he does from there that is amazing – He stoops down to look at the earth.
7 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; 8 he seats them with princes, with the princes of his people. 9 He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord.
The God of Psalm 113 is the God who sees the whole earth. Who is seated on a throne. But with this view and this power, he stoops down to the least significant – the poor and the widow.
This is our God.
You may feel insignificant. You may feel lost. You may feel ignored. But God sees you, He stoops down to you. He comes to us in our greatest need and He offers to lift us.
Love, Matt