Psalm 113:4-6 - "The Lord is high above all nations;
His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, Who is enthroned
on high, Who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the
earth?"
As I was reading through this psalm the other day I was struck with how high and exalted God really is. Verse 6 says that He humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and earth. God is so far above His creation that He humbles Himself to even behold it. When we think of God being exalted we often think of Him sitting in heaven, which is a biblical concept, but according to this verse God humbles Himself to even behold the things in heaven.
I'm often awe struck at the wonder of Gods creation. Last time it snowed I walked up the parkway to a place where I could look out over the valley surrounded by beautiful snow covered mountain ranges and I remember being overcome with a sense of wonder. I get a similar feeling when I watch the sun rising over the ocean, or when I sit under the stars late into the night and just gaze at the heavens. Gods creation is so wonderful and so majestic, and yet, as great as it is to us, God is so much greater, so much more wonderful and majestic that He humbles Himself to behold His creation.
Verse 4 says - "The Lord is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens." As glorious as these things are, they don't even compare to the glory of God. His glory is above the heavens. In Isaiah chapter 40 it talks about God in comparison with His creation, and I'm just going to pick out a few verses from this chapter but the whole chapter is really great.
Isaiah 40:12-17 - "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge and informed Him of the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless." Vs. 22 - "It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in." Vs. 25-26 -"To whom then will you liken Me that I would be his equal?" says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing."
This chapter is packed with the greatness of God. All creation is regarded by Him as less than nothing. I don't even know what less than nothing is, but that's what we are before God.
Isaiah 66:1-2 says - "Thus says the Lord, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being," declares the Lord "But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.""
As we've seen, God is far above all creation, but He reveals something amazing to us here. Though He is so exalted and we, His creatures are as less than nothing before Him, He looks to those who are humble and tremble at His word. God loves humility. He loves it when we see ourselves as we really are. Psalm 138:6 says - "For though the Lord is exalted, yet He regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar." Even though He is exalted on high God regards the humble. He draws close to the humble but hates pride and haughtiness. God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. James tells us to draw near to God and He will draw near to us. We draw near to God by humbling ourselves. And God not only regards the humble, but He also dwells with them. Isaiah 57:15 says - "For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite."" God is so great and dwells far above all, but He also dwells with the lowly. God will not lower Himself to dwell with those who exalt themselves, but He is so gracious that He will dwell with the humble. And God not only regards and dwells with the humble, but He also exalts them. James 4:10 says - "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you."
God is far above all His creatures, He is enthroned on high and humbles Himself to behold heaven and earth. He has to lower Himself to even behold His creation and yet He takes note of the lowly, the humble, the contrite in spirit. He regards them, He who dwells on high dwells with them, and He will exalt them. Knowing this we should strive for humility. Not exalting ourselves or thinking highly of ourselves, but regarding others as better than ourselves.
And what better example to follow then that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:5-11 says - "Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
This is the same One who is enthroned above the heavens. The One who measured out the waters in the hollow of His hand. The One who stretched out the heavens. The One who humbles Himself to behold His creation, and He even went beyond that. He didn't just humble Himself to behold it, but He actually stepped into His creation and served His creatures. We see the almighty God humble Himself to the point of relying on a human mother to feed and carry Him around. We see Him ministering to the poor, the sick, and to the outcasts of society. We see Him at the last supper on the floor washing the feet of His disciples. And we see His obedience to the Father in dying a shameful way, rejected by men and accursed of God.
The almighty God humbled Himself to this point, and therefore God also has highly exalted Him and one day at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Let us follow our Lords example.
As I was reading through this psalm the other day I was struck with how high and exalted God really is. Verse 6 says that He humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and earth. God is so far above His creation that He humbles Himself to even behold it. When we think of God being exalted we often think of Him sitting in heaven, which is a biblical concept, but according to this verse God humbles Himself to even behold the things in heaven.
I'm often awe struck at the wonder of Gods creation. Last time it snowed I walked up the parkway to a place where I could look out over the valley surrounded by beautiful snow covered mountain ranges and I remember being overcome with a sense of wonder. I get a similar feeling when I watch the sun rising over the ocean, or when I sit under the stars late into the night and just gaze at the heavens. Gods creation is so wonderful and so majestic, and yet, as great as it is to us, God is so much greater, so much more wonderful and majestic that He humbles Himself to behold His creation.
Verse 4 says - "The Lord is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens." As glorious as these things are, they don't even compare to the glory of God. His glory is above the heavens. In Isaiah chapter 40 it talks about God in comparison with His creation, and I'm just going to pick out a few verses from this chapter but the whole chapter is really great.
Isaiah 40:12-17 - "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as His counselor has informed Him? With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge and informed Him of the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. Even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless." Vs. 22 - "It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in." Vs. 25-26 -"To whom then will you liken Me that I would be his equal?" says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing."
This chapter is packed with the greatness of God. All creation is regarded by Him as less than nothing. I don't even know what less than nothing is, but that's what we are before God.
Isaiah 66:1-2 says - "Thus says the Lord, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being," declares the Lord "But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.""
As we've seen, God is far above all creation, but He reveals something amazing to us here. Though He is so exalted and we, His creatures are as less than nothing before Him, He looks to those who are humble and tremble at His word. God loves humility. He loves it when we see ourselves as we really are. Psalm 138:6 says - "For though the Lord is exalted, yet He regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar." Even though He is exalted on high God regards the humble. He draws close to the humble but hates pride and haughtiness. God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. James tells us to draw near to God and He will draw near to us. We draw near to God by humbling ourselves. And God not only regards the humble, but He also dwells with them. Isaiah 57:15 says - "For thus says the high and exalted One who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite."" God is so great and dwells far above all, but He also dwells with the lowly. God will not lower Himself to dwell with those who exalt themselves, but He is so gracious that He will dwell with the humble. And God not only regards and dwells with the humble, but He also exalts them. James 4:10 says - "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you."
God is far above all His creatures, He is enthroned on high and humbles Himself to behold heaven and earth. He has to lower Himself to even behold His creation and yet He takes note of the lowly, the humble, the contrite in spirit. He regards them, He who dwells on high dwells with them, and He will exalt them. Knowing this we should strive for humility. Not exalting ourselves or thinking highly of ourselves, but regarding others as better than ourselves.
And what better example to follow then that of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Philippians 2:5-11 says - "Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
This is the same One who is enthroned above the heavens. The One who measured out the waters in the hollow of His hand. The One who stretched out the heavens. The One who humbles Himself to behold His creation, and He even went beyond that. He didn't just humble Himself to behold it, but He actually stepped into His creation and served His creatures. We see the almighty God humble Himself to the point of relying on a human mother to feed and carry Him around. We see Him ministering to the poor, the sick, and to the outcasts of society. We see Him at the last supper on the floor washing the feet of His disciples. And we see His obedience to the Father in dying a shameful way, rejected by men and accursed of God.
The almighty God humbled Himself to this point, and therefore God also has highly exalted Him and one day at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Let us follow our Lords example.
James 4:10 - "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord
and He will exalt you."
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