God is Hope

“He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the dunghill, in order to make him sit with nobles, with the nobles of his people.” (Psalms 113:7-8)

“He raises.” It is God Who puts one down and sets up another (Psalms 75:7) The Lord God gave Ezekiel a riddle and a parable of a lowly vine plucked and stripped by an eagle indicating that Israel was plundered by Babylon. But the Lord Himself will plant it and make it grow into a majestic cedar prophesying that God will make Israel prosper and be lifted up. “And all the trees of the field shall know that I Jehovah have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish. I Jehovah have spoken and acted.” (Ezekiel 17:24) Isaiah’s prophecy goes further prophesying about the Messiah Who is to come and rule with peace on the earth that has never been since the fall. He is talking about the Thousand Year Reign of Christ on earth. Israel who has been persecuted since the beginning here on earth, enslaved and plundered will be lifted up. And all the promises God made to Israel will be fulfilled. “And a Shoot goes out from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah. And He is made to breathe in the fear of Jehovah. And He shall not judge according to the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears. But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and shall decide with uprightness for the meek of the earth. And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His heart. Also, the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the cub lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day, there shall be the Root of Jesse standing for a banner of the people; to Him the nations shall seek; and His resting place shall be glorious. And it shall be in that day, the Lord shall again set His hand, the second time, to recover the remnant of His people that remains, from Assyria and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Ethiopia, and from Persia, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the coasts of the sea. And He shall lift up a banner for the nations and shall gather the outcasts of Israel and gather together the scattered ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth. And the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the foes of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not trouble Ephraim. But they shall fly on the shoulders of the Philistines to the west; they shall spoil the sons of the east together; they shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab; and the sons of Ammon shall obey them. And Jehovah shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with His scorching wind He shall shake His hand over the River, and shall strike it into seven streams, and make one tread it with shoes. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people, those left from Assyria; as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.” (Isaiah 11:1-16)

The Lord has intervened and upset the rule of the mighty and wicked many times in the history of His people and continues to do so. Watch and see God move in the nations. Luke stated this principle. “He has put down rulers from their seats and exalted the lowly, He has filled the hungry with good things, and He has sent away the rich empty.” (Luke 1:52-53) The Lord exalts the humble and lowly. “And whoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he who shall humble himself shall be exalted.” (Matthew 23:12) This is a fearful thing and a warning. I ask. What do we have to exalt ourselves about? All is the Lord’s blessing and working in us. “For who makes you to differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1Corinthians 4:7) Yet we see this pride over and over. Then we see the fall. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18) Are you anointed? It didn’t come from within you. It was the Lord’s doing. Are you mighty and influential? It was the Lord Who made you mighty. Are you wise? Wisdom is from the Lord. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.” (James 1:17) It’s hard when someone compliments on a gift from God. I just say, “Praise the Lord.” He is the one Who is to be praised for the gift.

The scariest example of self-exaltation is the incident with King Nebuchadnezzar. He finally acknowledged God and gave God the glory for what he had after he had the golden image made that the three Hebrew youth refused to bow to. King Nebuchadnezzar had them thrown in a fiery furnace. But they were not scorched nor touched by the smoke. Then he recognized God for Who He is and praised Him.  “Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. It seemed good before me to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done with me. How great are His signs! And how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His rule is from generation to generation.” (Daniel 4:1-3) But pride arose and he forgot that it was God Who had given him everything. “At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spoke and said, Is this not great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, a voice fell from Heaven, saying, O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you.” (Daniel 4:29-31) And it was so. “The same hour the thing was fulfilled on Nebuchadnezzar. And he was driven from men, and ate grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the heavens, until his hair had grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.” (Daniel 4:33) When he finally recognized his pride and praised God, everything was restored to him. (Daniel 4:34-37)

In our Scripture of study, the psalmist writes, “... He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the dunghill...” That is the lowest one can go on this earth, graveling in the dust and living on a dunghill where no one would live and the only space given to the lowest of the poor. In ancient times it’s where the poor or terminally sick were abandoned. So, the psalmist is saying that those in the lowest and most desperate situations of the poor and abandoned, God will raise and exalt. In other words there is hope for them. And if there is hope for them, there is hope for us. Our desperate situation is not at a level God cannot reach down and help, restore, heal and exalt. We have so many examples in the Bible. Two prominent ones are Joseph who was sold by his own brothers and eventually became the most powerful man in Egypt after Pharoh. Another is David whom God took from caring for sheep to become the King of the united kingdom of God’s people. God can do it again as the song goes. If you lack in any way, spirit, soul or body and are suffering at the moment, just wait. “But the God of all grace, He calling us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little, He will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (1Peter 5:10)

Concluding, we see that there is tremendous hope in the Lord our God when we are at our lowest point. Our minds have to be in the right place and sometimes it takes some humbling to come to the right conclusion that there is hope in God alone. He alone is to be praised. Whatever we do have is a gift and a blessing from the Lord.

Let us pray:

Father God, You alone are great and mighty. You are Good and there is none other who is Good. I ask You my Lord that I would not fall into pride. I know that whatever I have in this world came from Your Goodness toward me. I offer it all to You to use for Your will and purposes. Be glorified in all that You have given me and what You have put in me, in my body, in my mind and strength. Use it for Your glory. I thank You Lord that You are hope. In my lowest and hardest times, You lift me up and restore Your blessings. Thank You, Lord. I am so grateful. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.