Who is like the Lord our God,
    who is seated on high,
⁶ who looks far down
    on the heavens and the earth?
⁷ He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
⁸ to make them sit with princes,
    with the princes of his people.

1) What does this Psalm teach us about God, specifically His character?
When I think of the book of Psalms, I sometimes forget they were written as sacred songs or hymns sung as part of worship. This hymn asks the question, who is like God? The purpose of this Psalm is to answer that question. It was written as a praise to God and recounting of His faithfulness. It is a call to worship because there is none like God.  It would be like us singing Great is Thy Faithfulness. Powerful words founded in good theology.

2) What is God’s position, according to this Psalm?
There are two ways you can see God’s position in this Psalm. First is a literal position of being high above. God is literally seated in Heaven. The second way is a supremacy position. God is so much bigger than this world. He is “high above all nations”. (Psalm 113:4) There is nothing that compares to His omnipresence (everywhere) or omniscience (all-knowing).

3) How does God treat the poor and needy?
As I read Psalm 113, there is no doubt of God’s care of His creation specifically those who are poor and needy. We are all in desperate need of a Savior, we are all spiritually poor and needy, but the words used for poor and needy in this Psalm indicate a physical condition. It indicates those who are subject to abuse and oppression—those who need help and are low and weak. God sees them and restores them to places of honor. This is talking about classes of people, He brings those in the low classes (the lowest of the low) and places them into the presence of the prince, which would have been the highest class of people.

1) What does this Psalm teach us about God, specifically His character?
“Who is like our God?” is the question raised by this Psalm. Is there anything or anyone above Him? The answer is no! There is also no one out of His reach. In times of desperation and hopelessness, it seems God is far away and far from our presence, but the Psalm would tell us otherwise. It is the hopeless He seeks out, the poor He pursues, and the needy He restores. He restores with purpose, the purpose being to lift us up to places of royalty. We can praise Him because He sees us where we are and meets us there.

2) What is God’s position, according to this Psalm?
He is high above this world—this fallen, poverty stricken, disease-ridden world. I need to know that there is something more. God gives me that hope. This is not hope as the world defines it with odds on something happening or there is a chance. God’s definition is different. His hope, Biblical hope, says it will happen. God does save, God does restore, and God will one day complete what He started in a manager two thousand years ago. No more sickness, no more tears, no more hunger, no more poverty. A once perfect world, will be so again when Christ returns!

3) How does God treat the poor and needy?
Throughout the Old and New Testament, believers are called upon to show the love of God to the poor and the needy. We are commanded to work on their behalf and give generously. God seeks to restore the poor and needy to high places and His greatest commandment next to loving Him is to love our neighbor. That is how we show God’s love, we love each other. Sometimes love comes in the form of money, food, supplies, or even going somewhere we may never have thought to go except that God wants you there.

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We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources.  Just type in the verse you’re looking at and Boom! It’s right in front of you in English and Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament), which are the original languages the Bible was written in.

Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Find super awesome stuff like “origin”, “definition”, and even all the different ways that single word has been translated into English! If you want to be geeky, you can even click the word and hear its original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!

Want to get more background on a word or phrasing or passage? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))

Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.

In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!

Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus.
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