You Uphold the Needy

Homeless Portrait

"I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. Surely the righteous will praise your name, and the upright will live in your presence." Psalm 140:12-13

 O Lord, I look to You - You who secure justice for the poor and uphold the needy's cause. Everywhere I turn I see the poor and needy - the news, the web, the latest friend-recommended book, the aisles of Walmart on a late-night grocery run.
The stories I read and images I see cause my own problems and worries to fade into the distance. When the foreground is smattered with pain and difficulty, my own pain and brokenness is diminished.
Lord, even in my most broken places and in my darkest hours, I live aware of One greater. I live with hope. I live with knowledge of You who have rescued me time and time again in Your great mercy and kindness. My "faith history" grows with each answered prayer and unexpected blessing. The testimony of my life shouts of Your goodness.
But what of those who do not live with such hope? O God, You are their defender! Let prayer and intercession not be a remaining refuge for unbelief in my heart! You have done it for me, God, so You'll do it for them! You are the One who became poor - the poorest - to stoop below the neediest and lift them up.
Let the "I know" resound in my soul that You are not far off and distant, unaware of the multitude and the many or just the one who suffers daily. You see every affliction, every blow, every empty stomach, every aching body and heart, every neglected child, every battered wife, ever mom weighed down in worry for her family by the cares of her difficult life, every dad and husband battling anger and isolation because he has "failed" at providing for his family.
O Lord, You do see it all! It is in clear view before You, and your plan is perfect. And though our finite minds with predominantly temporal vision do not comprehend it, Your timing is perfect, too.
So what else can i do but praise You, God? How else can I respond to such a mystery? You are God. We are not. That alone merits praise from our hearts. But yet somehow in Your deep love You manage - in Your holiness and eternal glory - to still look upon the lowly. I bow low and put my face to the dust. Who is a God like You?
Surely I will live in Your presence because where else would I go? Why would I want to leave the presence of One so generous and kind? But the truth is that I do. I leave. I depart and forget and am swept up into the mania of the negative - that which seems to be the only reality of life.
Jesus, would You keep reminding me, keep whispering to me of Your goodness - to this one and to that one for whom it seems that all hope is lost? Tell me again and again until the "I know"  reverberates through my being, renews my mind from the negative, reorients me to the truth, and causes faith and confident though aching prayers to arise.
If I am poor and needy and You look upon me, how much more these ones whose lives make headlines or are little-known but are deeply moving in their tragic telling? Surely You see; surely You hold them in the palm of Your hand; surely there is an appointed hour that You will make all wrong things right.
This is who You are - the King who cares enough about the poorest and most broken of His subjects that He would descend from His place of honor and recognition and become one of them. O most beautiful One, Chief among ten thousand, fairer than the sons of man You are, yet Your form was marred more than any other man!
Let every accusation of, "Where was God when..." find its answer at the foot of Your bloody Cross. Let every cynic who says, "Surely He's far off and unconcerned with my life," stand in awe as he nears that Holiness-filled manger - God approachable.
You care. You really care. You became one of us - forever! You could not bear the distance any longer, so You came down and walked among us! And the truth is that You are still God! You have the power! You will turn it all around! You will leave no stone left unturned. All will be exposed to Your penetrating gaze. The needy will be lifted from their ashes, and You will clothe beggars like princes. The many who were called to the wedding feast will refuse - too busy with their important lives. Oh, but the poor - they will answer! They will say, "Yes!" to a feast! You will have Your reward - the reward You're due for Your great suffering and poverty - and You will be satisfied.
Let my heart rest in the knowledge of You.

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