“Blessed
are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea,
and everything in them — he
remains faithful forever. He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food
to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the foreigner and
sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked”
(Psalm 146:5-9 NIV).
The
eyes of Lord are upon the righteous (Psalm 34:15) but His eyes and His attention
are also upon those oppressed, forgotten, weakened, orphaned, and those wandering
and looking for a place to live out their days. This powerful reality of God’s attention being upon
every created person and His desire to extend grace towards all (2 Peter 3:9)
runs contrary to our human tendencies to many times see people by external distinctions
alone and become prejudiced by our heart, our culture, our political or
social philosophies.
God
is not partial to the rich, the privileged, the scholarly, the elite or even the
religious. He sees all His created
children as His children and He longs for relationship with them. Jesus Christ lived out in the flesh, the model
of loving those that were isolated and cast off and seeing the true heart of
everyone He encountered. We are the ones that regulate people by ethnicity, classes,
value, and cultural biases. It is our
short-sightedness and human prideful arrogance that devalues and classifies
certain people. If in our hearts, we elevate ourselves above other people and if we act with malice or hate towards
anyone … we are not like God or being followers of Christ.
Our
prayer should be simple regarding this matter ... Dear God, let us, see others as You love
them. Amen.
“For
the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and
awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of
the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you,
giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners,
for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:17-19 NIV).
Suggested
Reading for today … Psalm 146 & Deuteronomy 10
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