Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb19980531.htm

PSALMS: DIARIES OF GODLY OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS
Psalm One Hundred And Thirteen - Praising God For His Sensitive Condescension To The Neediest Of People
(Psalm 113:1-9)
  1. Introduction
    1. A number of times, people have asked me as a Pastor to pray for them with the remark, "I know that your prayers really make a dent with God where I'm just another Christian praying!" The implication is that somehow God feels one is mo re "in" to His program of prayer if he is ordained or something!
    2. That notion needs to be corrected, and Psalm 113:1-9 is an excellent passage for doing just that!
  2. Praising God For His Sensitive Condescension To The Neediest Of People, Ps. 113:1-9.
    1. The psalmist reveals that God is an awesomely great God worthy of our praise, 113:1-4.
      1. God is to be praised, especially by His servants, Ps. 113:1.
      2. He is to be praised now and forever, at all times, Ps. 113:2.
      3. He is to be praised everywhere the sun travels, in every geographical location, Ps. 113:3.
      4. He is to be praised as the Great Sovereign God of all nations whose glory is above the heavens, 113:4.
    2. However, the grace of this God in His sensitive condescension to the neediest of the lowly is the greatest REASON for our praise as the psalmist details in verses 5-9:
      1. Though God sits enthroned on high over the heavens, He stoops down to look on what appear to us to be the massive heavens and the earth far beneath Him, Ps. 113:5-6.
      2. Not only does He bother to stoop and look on the heavens and earth, but He raises the poor of the earth, the neediest of the lowly of men on that earth of many nations, and sets them up out of the ash heap near the garbage dump to sit with the princes of their people, Ps. 113:7-8 with 113:4.
      3. In a sharp illustration of this condescension, the Psalmist uses God's involvement with needy women as explained in Ps. 113:9 as follows:
        1. In the Ancient Near Eastern world of the psalmist's era, an unmarried woman was viewed as being of less worth than was a man. A woman who was married and who had born only daughters was worth a bit more, one who was married and had bo rn sons was very honored where a barren woman was looked upon almost with contempt.
        2. The psalmist notes that the Great God over the heavens and the earth stoops down to note the heavens and earth, even to see a childless woman in her need, Ps. 113:9a.
        3. In grace and sensitive consideration, this great God takes such a woman and arranges to get her married so she can settle down as a wife and homemaker in a house, cf. "settle", B.D.B., Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, p. 443.
        4. To top it off, God equips her even if she was once barren not only to bear children, but to be the joyful mother of sons, achieving the highest order of honor available in her culture, Ps. 113:9b,c.
        5. Thus, one ought to praise the great God of all the heavens and earth who stoops down to look past the hosts of great galaxies to a little planet around the sun in the Milky Way Galaxy, and view a barren woman on that earth in the midst of nations of millions of people, seeing a woman who is almost an outcast, and carefully arrange to get her married, settled in a house and bearing sons to her great honor and joy! No wonder we ought to praise God for His sensitive, condescending grace!
Lesson: Out of God's lofty excellencies of sovereignty over the heavens and earth, God looks down to see a disquieted, lowly person on the social totem pole, and works in mysterious, personal ways to honor elevate him or her before others. Such a great God certainly deserves our praise.

Application: (1) If we think that God will not hear OUR prayer because we are not ordained or "important" as MAN sees it, recall the lesson of Psalm 113: God has the capacity to look beyond heaven's great galaxies to see the lowliest of the lowly o n this simple little planet, earth, and take note of the INDIVIDUAL in need amidst all the nations of people who exist on the earth, and sensitively address that one's need. As such, get RIGHT with God and He WILL hear the prayer given in His will, James 5 :16b; 1 Jn. 5:14-15. (2) Then, PRAISE God for His great, sensitive, condescending grace to us, for He is certainly a WORTHY God!