Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people. He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the Lord! (Psalm 113:5-9 ESV)

Who is like “our God”? I want to answer this question both philosophically and pragmatically. I think to answer this question, I need to describe what “our God” is like first. So in a nutshell as describe by the Psalmist in this passage, our God is: bigger than this world and our lives (literally an figuratively); as a result of His vastness, our God is able; in his ability, God is caring; He is deliberate and He gives generously. I am basically reiterating the Psalmist by saying that God is so awesome, He can take care of people who are ignored and overlooked and in the same breathe bring them to commune with the rich and well-to do. But God does more than that– He gives people who are alienated a place, that is a community, they can call “home.” With all that said, “who is like ‘our God’?” The answer should be, “we, His people.” But philosophically and pragmatically it’s more and more apparent that God’s people are unlike Him. We are not like God in our hearts, nor in our actions. We are preoccupied with ourselves, and so we can’t take care of those who are neglected by us [and the rest of the world]. Our hearts are not with them; how could they be when they are so busy dealing with our own self-image issues? We are philosophically at complete odds with God because of this. Here’s an example of what I mean: I ignored a tourist who was just asking for directions because I was running five minutes behind for my workout this morning! I wasn’t even running late for work or for an appointment. It was for the gym! (Mind you, I walk and move incredibly slow at the gym.) I sidestepped the person, didn’t even take off my headphones and said, “sorry, I don’t know” before he even asked his question. While at the gym, I began to think about the times we are even aware of the plight of another living being, not related to us by blood or friendship, is when we are really bored or we are waiting to go somewhere, and we only really notice after the stranger (the needy person) paced back and forth three or four times in front of us, distracting us from our preoccupations. If our philosophy (our heart) is unlike God’s own, it’s evident that our actions are even further from God. I am saying that we can’t act like God if we don’t feel like God. That is the sad thing about today’s society. How can Christians, the very people of God, care less about the needy and the poor and the afflicted than people who don’t even believe God exists? Not only that, how can the people of God, myself included, claim to want holiness when our worship is relegated to Sunday morning and not through the heart and actions we take the other six days of the week? Going to church services once a week on Sunday afternoons is not worship, nor is it the heart and work of God alone. We need to take our Sunday afternoons with God and make it every moment of our day feeling the way God’s heart feels for this world and working the way God works with our hands and feet. I want to say two things in conclusion. First, I want to apologize to everybody I ignored that needed me or found themselves poor. If I were more like God, then my heart would have been with you. But my heart wasn’t like God’s and I’m sorry. However, I think now, you and I both can have a heart like God and help each other meet the need we have through His love. Second, since we are needy and poor and don’t even know it, we need to ask God to rescue us and sit us with His princes. It is in God’s heart and body of work to give us a place called home, like a childless mother having a home with her children. This is our God. We need to embody the heart and work of our God now.