Psalm 138:6 (NIV)
Though the LORD is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly; though lofty, he sees them from afar.
Do you think God looks kindly on you? Or, do you think it’s more a look of disappointment…anger…or even, disgust. Our view of “God’s view” speaks volumes about our relationship with him and how we live out our Christian lives. David, perhaps better than anyone else in Scripture, understood that God is great in His glory and on high, yet He holds the lowly, the humble, in high regard. Nevertheless, God keeps His distance from the proud (Jas. 4:6). Do you have a right view of how God sees you?
The British Theologian, Adam Clarke, reflecting on this verse, noted that, “Infinitely great as God is, he regards even the lowest and most inconsiderable part of his creation; but the humble and afflicted man attracts his notice particularly.” We know that God pays close attention to all things, including the birds of the air and the hairs on our heads, but that is just a quantitative statement. On the other hand, God pays particular attention to His most prized creation—human beings—and especially to those He has adopted into the family of faith. And amongst that most cherished group, God gives even more attention to those with a broken and contrite heart (Ps. 51:17). Spurgeon captures this particularly well:
“He views them with pleasure, thinks of them with care, listens to their prayers, and protects them from evil. Because they think little of themselves, he thinks much of them. They reverence him, and he respects them. They are low in their own esteem, and he makes them high in his esteem.”
This is a fantastic quote, of course, but it also comes with a great concern. Thinking “little of yourself” and seeing yourself with “low esteem” does not mean a false estimate of your worth, a problem that plagues many people, both inside and outside of the faith. None of us would risk our lives to rescue some object that fell out of a bag as we crossed a busy street, but every parent would risk their own life to rescue their own child from that on-coming traffic. The worth determines the price, and your worth (and mine) was established on a bloody cross on a Middle Eastern hill some 2,000 years ago. The God of the universe chose to humble himself to walk among His creation, endured their scorn, and allowed himself to be unjustly condemned and crucified…and for what? FOR YOU. FOR ME. FOR ALL OF US.
Your worth determined His price.
We certainly should think “little of ourselves” when it comes to our own righteousness before a Holy God. We are all “pond scum” when it comes to our sin—filthy as rags per Isaiah’s words—but that is a separate issue from our innate value in God’s eyes. You are who God says you are, and in Christ, you are his prized possession (Jn. 3:16). You are a co-heir with His son (Rom. 8:17). You were fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. 139:14) and God chose you before the foundations of the earth were laid (Eph. 1:4). Don’t let the world or your own self-doubts define your worth…and don’t let your sin record do it, either.
So, what does it mean that God looks kindly on the lowly? The Pharisee prayed with pride, over-estimating his own righteousness, while the publican prayed with humility, knowing how great his offenses were (Lk. 18). In his prayer of repentance in Psalm 51:3, King David said, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.” He had both a right view of his sin, as well as a right view of his worth, and that is why he stood amazed at God’s grace, for surely and once again, it had saved a wretch like him. We must all own our sin record—and that should break our hearts—but we must also own our worth in the Father’s eyes, and that should give us great comfort and peace.
