By Mark Grace, CCCNZ Ambassador
E tohe nei i te whakawa a te hunga e tukinotia ana: e whangai nei i te hunga mate hiakai: ko Ihowa hei wewete i nga herehere:
He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free.
Psalm 146:7
In Psalm 146, I’m confronted by God’s heart for the helpless.
In this psalm, we read about the God who creates everything, who is faithful, who upholds the cause of the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry, who sets prisoners free, who gives sight to the blind, who lifts up those who are bowed down, who loves the righteous, who watches over the foreigner, who sustains the fatherless and widower, who frustrates the way of the wicked and who reigns forever.
He cares for oppressed people across this country. Our God extends his hand to the hungry in our schools and in our homes.
Our God is deeply concerned with the level of poverty in New Zealand. He cares about single-parent families. Our God has compassion on multiple families packing into houses because of New Zealand's housing costs.
He is concerned about the state of prisons and prisoners. He cares for the immigrants exploited in New Zealand. He watches over the 100,000 plus new migrants to these islands.
But where do I see God’s heart for the helpless most clearly? I see it in the person of his Son.
Jesus boldly reads from Isaiah at the beginning of his ministry:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”.
Here is what is most remarkable to me. God sent Jesus—the righteous one—to become oppressed, a prisoner, hungry.
God sent Jesus to be bowed down at the cross so that I—a wicked person—could be raised up and made right with God.
When my heart reflects on this reality, that God in Jesus became poor and hungry and ultimately died at the cross to make me right with him, then extending his gracious compassion to those less fortunate than I am is simply an outworking of the grace I’ve been shown.
