Daily Devotion: Psalm 107 and our Scandalous God

We serve a scandalous God.

It's one thing to promise to lift up the lowly, the poor, and the hungry. That tends to be a pretty popular choice. Most every effective leader at least pays lip service to that goal. 

But our God always takes it a step further. This psalm is an example. Not only is there the promise that the hungry will live and have a place to live, but there's also the promise that "he pours contempt on princes, and makes them wander in trackless wastes..." and there's almost the sense that God does this in response to the need of the needy, as though to see princes brought low will help them.

No need to take my word for it: this is not an isolated incident. You can find this attitude throughout Scripture. Like in Mary's Song, which is based on Hannah's Song, and Luke's version of The Beatitudes, which causes enough stir just by blessing the poor and mourning, but goes even farther by pronouncing "woe" to the rich and happy. I could go on. 

I'd say from a human, scarcity-based perspective, this could be read as simple balance: the rich need to have less so that the poor can have more. A forcible leveling out the playing field. That may be part of it, but since God gives abundantly--more than any of us could ever possibly need--I believe there's more to it than that.

We serve a God of love. A God who wants every person to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. So I believe that this strain of "bringing low" those in high positions is not just about "taking their stuff" and sharing it with the poor. Our God is not simply a cosmic Robin Hood.

I think it's about compassion. It's about sanding off the rough edges of our souls, through putting ourselves in the position of those whom we do not see. Simply put, no reasonably sane person, whose life is pretty good, will ever seek or ask to be "laid low" this way. But because of who God is, it needs to be understood that if God is doing it, it's because God loves us and wants us to be better, more compassionate, more authentic human beings. 

I'm treading carefully here, because I do not believe that God somehow pushes a button and sends a calamity into our lives to somehow "knock us off our high horse." But when bad things do happen to us, I think God can use that to teach us. So if I am feeling like I'm being "brought down" in some way--emotionally, socially, physically, financially, spiritually--the question I want in my heart is not, "O God, why me?" but rather, "OK, God, while I'm here, for whom can I learn some compassion?"

God, I am a straight, white, American, college-educated man. In the eyes of the world, people like me are lifted up high. But I ask that, in the ways that I need, the ways that will make me better follow you as your disciple, you will bring me low. Fill me with your love and compassion. Take me to the cross.  In Jesus' name, Amen.