Psalms 113

The Explanation

Imagine it is still dark. The sun is not up yet. But somewhere in Jerusalem, a boy is already awake.

He hears singing. Voices outside, in the street, walking toward the temple. It is a song, and it starts with one shout: "Praise Yah!" That is a short name for God, the name of the LORD.

The boy pulls on his coat and runs after them. Would you have run too?

The song keeps going, all the way up the temple steps. "From the rising of the sun to its going down, Yahweh's name is to be praised." That means: when the sun climbs up in the morning, sing. When it sinks down red in the evening, sing. All day long, everywhere the sun shines, God's name is worth singing about.

Then the song lifts your eyes way up high. God is higher than every country on earth. Higher than the highest mountain. Higher than the clouds. Higher than the stars. The singer asks a question, and it is a good one: "Who is like Yahweh, our God, who has his seat on high?"

Nobody. Nobody is like Him.

But now comes the surprise in the song. You would expect a King that high to stay up there. Too big. Too far away. Too important to notice you.

He does not stay up there. He stoops down. He bends over, the way you bend down to look at something small in the grass.

And what does He look at? Not the palaces first. He looks at the dust. He looks at the ash heap, the pile of grey ashes outside the town where people threw their rubbish. And there sits someone with nothing. No money, no food, no friends.

God reaches into the dust. He picks that person up. He brushes them off. And He sits them down with princes, right next to the important people of His own nation.

The song ends with a woman. She had no children, and in those days that made her feel forgotten, like nobody saw her sadness. God gives her a home full of children and laughter. And the song closes the way it started: "Praise Yah!"

What Does This Mean?

Here is the wonderful thing about our God. He is the highest, and He looks at the lowest.

Some big people only notice other big people. But God bends down. He sees the child nobody picks for the team. He sees the person crying where nobody is watching. He sees the one sitting in the ashes.

He does not just look. He lifts.

The Common Thread

Do you know who else came down?

Jesus. The Son of God left the highest place in heaven. He did not come as a king in a palace. He was born in a stable, laid in a feeding box for animals. He stooped all the way down, lower than anyone.

And who did He go to? The blind beggars by the road. The sick. The children that grown-ups tried to push away. Jesus said, "Let them come to me."

Psalm 113 sings about a God who bends down. Jesus is that bending, with a face and hands you could touch.

For You

Look around this week for someone sitting in the ashes. Not real ashes. I mean someone who feels small.

Maybe a child in your class who eats lunch alone. Go sit there. Maybe your little brother cannot reach something. Get it for him. Maybe someone got laughed at. Say something kind, out loud, where others can hear.

And in the morning, before anything else, try what the singer did. Say it out loud: "Praise Yah!" Then say it again in the evening, when the sun goes down. Sunrise and sunset, top and bottom of your day.

Talk About It

Why do you think a King so high up would want to look at people in the dust?

Who do you know who might feel small this week, and what could you do for them?

Praying Together

Lord, You are higher than the stars, and still You see me. Thank You that You bend down. Help me to see the people others walk past. Praise Yah! Amen.