"The God Who Stoops Down to Make Us Great" - Doug Rehberg

Psalm 18 is one I've referred to over the years to highlight the powerful place metaphors can have for the believer. From verse 1 to verse 19 David uses a variety of metaphors that widen and deepen his appreciation of who God is and what He has done for him. Moreover, each metaphor focuses his attention on a different attribute of God.

But it wasn't until recently that I came to appreciate what he says in verse 35. And one of the reasons I missed it is because the ESV doesn't translate these words in a way that arrests one's attention. See what David says in a more literal translation:

"You have given me the shield of Your salvation; and Your right hand holds me up; and You stooped down to make me great."

It's this last line that stops me in my tracks. "You stooped down to make me great!" The word translated "stooped down" can also be rendered, "goodness" or "gentleness"; but I like "stooped down" better. I especially like it today, on this Maundy Thursday. Think of all the ways God stooped down for you and me - in a Bethlehem stable, at the table in the Upper Room, under the weight of His cross, in a borrowed tomb outside Jerusalem. In these ways and myriad others, God stooped down - not just to save us, but to make us great. His stooping down took us from servants to friends to brothers!

To Jesus Christ be all the glory!

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