Two Places where God Lives

“I live in a high and holy place,
and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit,”

Isaiah 57:15

In a way God lives everywhere. But in another way, He lives especially in certain places. Speaking through His prophet Isaiah, God speaks of two radically different types of places where His presence is found. One place is high, and the other is low.  I pray that as you think about this with me God will use this truth to bring you hope and encouragement.

A High Place

The fact that God lives in a high place, in fact in the very highest place, tells us that He is powerful and that He rules over all. There is no one with more power than God, or even with close to the same amount of power. There is no one with more or equal authority. God is high above all. As the second member of the Trinity, all that is true of God is true of Jesus. Jesus is seated “at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:20-21 NIV).

A Holy Place

God lives in a holy place. He is completely separate from all that is evil or impure. “God is light. In Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). This means God never does anything wrong. He never feels a desire to do anything wrong. He is 100% good.

Stop and Think and Praise

Before we continue, stop and think about this truth: the most powerful being who exists is entirely good. This is great news! To realize how wonderful this truth is, imagine just for a second or two (not too much longer!) how terrible it would be if the most powerful being who exists was not entirely good. Imagine how terrible it would be if every now and then He did something wrong, cruel, or evil just because He wanted to. Who would be able to stop Him? What hope would anyone who was a victim of His wrong acts have? None at all! But praise God, He is both the most powerful being and the most holy being who exists. God has never done anything wrong and He never will and God can never be overpowered.

Don’t we all long to know and feel this is true?  When our daughter, Joy, was a child she liked to watch videos about a group of young dinosaurs who had adventures. Little Foot and his vegetation-eating dinosaur friends were never harmed, but they had plenty of close encounters as they were sometimes chased by the terrible meat-eating dinosaurs. This prompted Joy to make up her own stories about dinosaurs who lived in Joyland. In Joyland there was a new type of dinosaur, which she called a Brontyasaurus. It was a long-neck, peaceful, friendly dinosaur in some ways similar to Little Foot. But the Brontyasaurus was far bigger, stronger, and way more powerful than every other dinosaur. No tyrannosaurus could threaten him! With a swat of his mighty tail all meat-eating dinosaurs were vanquished! Not only that, but Brontyasaurus could fly far higher and faster than all other dinosaurs. Joyland was a safe and happy place! Isn’t that what every child’s heart (and, indeed, every human heart!) longs for? A world where the most powerful being is safe and good and on our side! Praise God, we live in such a world, though temporarily we experience evil and suffer. Which brings us to the other place God lives . . .

With the Oppressed and Lowly of Spirit

We believe God is powerful and good, and yet it doesn't feel like we're living in Joyland now. In one sense, we are not. We live in a world where there is much suffering, evil, and sorrow. It’s not God’s fault. It’s ours.

God allows us to choose. We (humankind, both collectively and as individuals) have chosen to go our own way. We chose to go down a road that God warned us not to go down. We went anyway. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. And like them, each of us has often chosen to do things that we know God did not want us to do. God made a good world for us. We have filled it with suffering, sickness, oppression, evil, and death.

Amazingly, our high and holy God has come to be with us right in the middle of the mess we’ve made. The most high, holy God is also Immanuel, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). Without ever compromising His holiness, He walks among sinners and calls us back to Himself. When we humbly recognize and confess our sins, He is ready to forgive us. He cleanses us from all our sins and begins to transform us.

When we are oppressed, God is with us. This is true when we are suffering for the gospel and for His Name sake. He is with us when evil forces which are stronger than us, but far less powerful than Him, threaten us. When we trust Him, these evil forces can do us no eternal harm (Luke 10:19). Anything we suffer God uses for our good (Romans 8:28). Even when our suffering is brought on by own sin (which it often is), whenever we humble ourselves and confess our sins He is quick to forgive. He gives us mercy and grace.

Because God is powerful, and because He is good, and because of His great grace and mercy, we are given strength and encouragement to stand firm and live for Christ in the midst of this dark world. And in Christ we have hope for a far better world to come, the true Joyland, the New Heavens and New Earth, where there will be no more sin or suffering, and where we will forever sing the praises of our high and holy God who came down into our lowly, broken world and saved us.

Hallelujah!

Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .