Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of his people. (Psalm 113:5-8)

There is something unique about Israel’s God that sets him apart from any other human or deity. Not only is he high above the highest heights—a great God on the throne who reigns over the whole of the universe—but he is also a God who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth, even taking an interest in the plight of the poor and needy—the lowliest of the low.

There was no other deity of the ancient world like that. Sure there were gods that sat in highest heights, but they didn’t care about any human problems. And sure there were great heroes among men, but even they were not terribly concerned about the lowest of the low. That Israel’s God could and did span and draw together such a mindbending spectrum as that between the utterly transcendent throne room of heaven and the utterly mundane and imminent ash heap of the needy made this God simply incomparable.

So, the psalm asks: “who is like the Lord our God?” Answer there? No one. Nothing. Our God is utterly unique. And in his Son Jesus Christ, we get an even better look at him. This one who did not consider equality with God as something to be used to his own advantage but instead became nothing. The highest of the high, the utterly transcendent, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God was born into this world as the lowest of the low: the baby out-of-wedlock of a poor peasant couple from the Podunk frontier town of Nazareth.

Why did our God take such a lowly path? To raise us up to the highest heights with him, that’s why. It was Israel who was first brought up from their poverty and need in Egypt: they were set free and made into a people. And with Jesus, we too have been raised up. We have not been given an earthly place, but a heavenly place next to the prince of peace who has become our brother.

Of course, God still does this work of justice and of salvation in a thousand other ways too. He really does rescue the poor and lifts them up. He really does still rescue the needy of our world from the ash heaps. Sometimes he even invites us into that work—to join him, our prince, into the places where he is still today, spanning the gap between the highest heights and the lowest lows. Our God still sees, he still acts. He still hears the cries of those who have long been oppressed, and he still moves in justice and salvation on their behalf.

We are never to think that we are too high not to stoop down low. Nor are we to ever think we are too low not to be lifted back up high. Our God is in both places, and meets us in each. Rescuing us, and also inviting us to join him in his work of bringing justice, grace, and mercy to others, too.

Praise the Lord for his great work that continues even today! Praise the Lord, for there is no one else like him!