Week 20 Psalm 138
By definition there’s a huge difference between the Lord and me. And one result is that there’s a gigantic distance between us. But when David says though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud that’s a tip-off that distance is dynamic.
Knowing that the Lord’s proximity isn’t fixed & static is useful information to have. The Lord isn’t equidistant from every single one of us. Arrogance has a distancing effect and so the Lord keeps the proud at arms-length. By contrast humility narrows the gap.
Proximity is a dependent variable. The personal space between the Lord and a) a proud person and b) a humble person works in a kind of inverse way. The standard distance between the Lord and people is stretched by pride. But humility reduces the space.
This raises a practical question. What if a guy feels proud of himself (maybe he’s talented popular good-looking & successful)? What if he’s asking: how do I feel less proud? Unfortunately David doesn’t give advice on that How-To question.
His point is: the Lord is great. That’s the fundamental thing. If I think that the Lord is awesomely distant – and I’m wondering about closing-the-gap – then that’s my starter-step in the right direction. By contrast if I think that the Lord isn’t so great then that’ll be an important distance-maintaining or distance-extending decision that I get to make.
Note: quote from Psalm 138:6 (NLT)