Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit
Good morning, Immanuel. We may be nobodies in the world, but God pays attention to the humble and exalts them for his glory.
“This is the one to whom I will look: He who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:20).
This world loves to pay attention to important, impressive, and successful people. As a result, we tend to think, ‘This must be how God relates to us as well…’ until we read Isaiah 66:1-2a.
“Thus says the LORD: ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD…” (66:1-2a).
At this point, we might rightly assume that God’s grandeur and majesty confirm our initial suspicion. We may think to ourselves, “The creator God has better things to do than pay attention to my small, unimportant life.” And then God surprises us all with the second half of verse 2…
“But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word…”
Suddenly, everything we thought we knew about God changes. While this world loves to congratulate the proud, God-almighty above looks elsewhere: to those who are humble, contrite in spirit, and tremble at His word.
Centuries later, Jesus confirmed and revealed more fully the heart of God shown in Isaiah when he stood up in front of a crowd of nobodies and declared, “Blessed are the poor in spirit…Blessed are those who mourn…Blessed are the meek…”
Immanuel family, let’s stay low before the Lord. We may be nobodies in the world, but God pays attention to the humble and exalts them for his glory.