To Encourage You

1 Samuel 2:8 “He raises up the poor from the dust; He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.”

One of the greatest obstacles to a person being saved is that person’s failure to see their need for salvation.  Jesus told the unbelieving Pharisees, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).  You see, the Pharisees believed that, of all people, they were the most righteous.  They had such a high opinion of themselves that they dared to look down their noses at the very Son of God!  What incredible blindness this was! What spiritual sickness was borne by those who thought they were in such good spiritual health! 

But that’s the way it is with anyone before they come to Christ.  Unless they understand that they have a need and that it’s such an enormous need that only the infinite God can make provision for them, they will never turn to Him for what He alone can give them.  We see this so well in the apostle Paul. Here was one who, before He was saved, saw himself as one who had “reason for confidence in the flesh (i.e., his own physical and natural accomplishments and merit).” In fact he said that “if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:3-6).  No matter how confident you are in yourself, you could not be more confident than Paul once had been. He was supremely confident in his own righteousness.  He thought that of all people, he was ready to be accepted by God. 

But then he met the Savior and everything changed. It was when he saw Jesus in all His glory, a glory that blinded Him physically and revealed how blind he had been spiritually, that the way to true righteousness was opened to him.  Listen to how his perspective changed in a moment of time: “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish (literally “manure”), in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:7-9). 

You see, the way up for any person, spiritually speaking, is the way down. As we see in Hannah’s prayer above, God “raises up the poor from the dust; He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.” Jesus put it this way in His Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).  Conversely, He also said this: “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24). In other words, it is impossible for a rich man to ever enter heaven.  And a “rich man” is one who, like Paul before his conversion, thinks that he doesn’t need anything and that he is, in and of himself, good and righteous enough to stand before the infinitely holy God. 

The way up is the way down. It is in the recognition of our utter lostness that we can be found. It is only in the realization that our “sins are heaped high as heaven” (Revelation 18:5) and that we are overwhelmingly in need of forgiveness that any person can be saved.  Pride excludes people from heaven, but humility is the first step toward opening the Way. 

So, how do you see yourself? Do you understand that you stand in great need?  Are you aware of the spiritual leprosy that afflicts your soul? Have you been to the only Physician that can heal you?  You see, the way up is always the way down in God’s eyes.  And His view is the only view that counts if anyone ever hopes to be saved.