The Lord loves to take the place of the poor

O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.  Psalms 10:17-18 (ESV)

What a glorious reversal from the way of the world, the way of even my own sinful nature. The Lord, who is righteous and dwells on high, descends to the place of the afflicted, the place of the fatherless, the place of the oppressed, the place of the terrified, the place of the wrong, the place of sin.

Such are the places our Lord’s love is drawn, such are the places our Lord in His love cannot be kept from, such are the places our Lord has come to live that by His love each might be exchanged for the place He has prepared.

So great is His love that

He came to be afflicted so that in His affliction you are comforted.

He was made fatherless so that in Him you have the heavenly Abba Father as your father (Rm 8:15).

He was oppressed so that in Him you are lifted up on eagle’s wings (Is 40:31, Ps 103:5).

He was terrified so that in Him you have the peace that surpasses all understanding (Ph 4:7).

He became wrong so that in Him you are made right and righteous before God (Ep 4:24).

He became sin so that in Him the curse of your sin is destroyed in God’s forgiveness (Ga 3:13).

He became what we are so that in Him, in Christ Jesus, you are a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come (Heb 2:14, 2Co 5:17).

Yes, though the Lord is on high, He always regards the lowly (Ps 138:6).

Surely the LORD is, and shall always be, to you as Isaiah speaks of Him: “You have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.” (Is 25:4).

The peace of the Lord be yours always.

- pmwl