God In The Ash Heap

by Bill Spanjer Jr.

"Who is like the Lord our God?" asks the Psalmist in Psalm 113.  But what is it that sets our God apart from the claims of all other would-be gods?  It is not simply that the God of the Bible is more exalted than what the others claim to be.  Rather, it is that as the One exalted high above the heavens, he is mindful of the lowly, the poor, the sinner. In this Christmas season lecture we are reminded that the God of the Bible, revealed in the Incarnation, is not a distant God, unwilling to get His hands dirty.  The God revealed in Christ Jesus is the God of Psalm 113 who loves His people enough to enter into the ash heap in order to lift us out and seat us with the princes of His people.