Holy and Lowly

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“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

(Isaiah 57:15)

The majority of Christians in the west live in what Pastor Ray Ortlund calls, “the mushy middle”. We are comfortable and satisfied and we don’t have great need of anything. The mushy middle isn’t desperate. The mushy middle doesn’t struggle deeply. The mushy middle floats around between heaven above and rock bottom below. In the mushy middle, we look to God to enhance our lives, not to save our lives.

For many, Christianity has become part of our cultural experience and identity in the same way that we identify with various sports teams, play pickle ball, and bake sourdough. God is simply a part of the stuff we do to fill our days and pass our time. By floating in the mediocre mushy middle, we have lost sight of the mission we were called to in the first place.

We were always meant to see the world as a mission field through the Great Commission. But the American Dream has replaced the Great Commission for many of us—and it’s not hard to see why! We work towards good grades, high-paying jobs, a low mortgage, minimal car payments, and life-changing vacations. We want to give our kids a better life we had so we prioritize personal success in finance, education, and relationships. Status is the goal over sacrifice. The self is preeminent over community. So when Christians see their world as a market place instead of a mission field, it’s no wonder God is hard to find!

Don’t get me wrong, of course, we know God is everywhere. But, as Ortlund puts it, “the clutter, the ease, the selfishness make it easier to marginalize God and harder to experience him.” So although God is always pursuing us, he is more readily recognized and received by those who are looking for him, too. 

This where Isaiah’s words cut deepest. In Isaiah 57:15, God himself is speaking but not before Isaiah describes God as One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, and whose name is Holy. This is beautiful language communicating God’s preeminence and majesty. But it’s nothing new and nothing we haven’t come to expect when it comes to the Almighty God! So when’s God’s turn to speak, he does acknowledge that, yes, I do in fact dwell in the high and holy place… AND ALSO! God says, with those who have a contrite and lowly spirit. Specifically to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite!

Friends, this blows me away. God doesn’t just affirm the praise ascribed to him or adds to it incessantly. He doesn’t refute these claims either. Instead, he illuminates a whole other facet of his heart and character.

Rock Bottom

God does not only dwell in the high and holy place, but somehow, with those who have been honest about how hard life is, how badly they’ve messed up, and how much they really do need him to show up in all of it. Different translations of Isaiah 57:15 describe it this way, 

I also live with anyone who turns away from their sins. I live with anyone who is not proud. I give new life to them. I give it to anyone who turns away from their sins. (NIrV)

I live with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts. (NLT)

But I am also with anyone who is humble and who is sorry when he does wrong things. I will comfort people who are like that, and I will give them hope. (EASY)

And this is what is so beautiful about a Holy God inhabiting the lowly places: that even for those who live in the mushy middle, all it takes is the honest recognition that maybe I don’t really have it all together. So, when we mess up—which applies to every single person, or when we’ve been wronged—which is bound to happen at some point, God is there. He doesn’t force himself into a designer life that has exiled him to the margins. But for those who’ve hit rock bottom, God is there to comfort, to revive courage, to restore the crushed spirit, to give new life to anyone who turns away from the sin of self-indulgence, pride, or anything else we are truly sorry to have given ourselves to.

Judas vs. Peter

The point is to actually turn to him. To recognize your need, and then to also recognize that you cannot meet it yourself. The clutter and ease of our lives can make it hard to experience God. The cushy life of comfort means we easily tune out his voice, numbing us to our need, numbing us to the beauty of the Savior. But I’m reminded of two disciples who both failed Jesus in public and deeply painful ways: Judas and Peter. 

Both reach rock bottom on the very same night.

Judas betrayed Jesus outright, handing him over to the authorities with a kiss. Peter’s betrayal looked different, but it was no less real. Standing around a charcoal fire in the courtyard, he denied even knowing Jesus. Not once, but three times. Both men had walked closely with Jesus. Both had witnessed miracles. Both had heard his teaching and shared in the life of the disciples. And both, in the end, turned away from him when it mattered most. Yet their stories do not end the same way. Afterward, Judas was filled with regret. Matthew tells us that he returned the silver he had been paid and confessed that he had betrayed innocent blood. There was a recognition that what he had done was terribly wrong. But the story stops there. Judas is overcome by the weight of it all and never turns back toward Jesus.

Peter’s response, however, moves in a different direction. When the rooster crowed and he realized what he had done, Luke tells us that he went outside and wept bitterly. Like Judas, Peter saw his sin clearly. But unlike Judas, Peter did not remain separated from Jesus. In time, he finds himself again in the presence of the risen Christ—once more beside a charcoal fire—where Jesus gently restores him.

The difference between the two is not that one sinned and the other did not. Nor is it that one failure was somehow worse than the other. The difference is simply this: Peter turns back. And perhaps this is where those of us living in the mushy middle need to pay attention. Because the mushy middle can subtly train us to protect our pride. When we fail, we minimize. When we sin, we explain it away. When we feel conviction, we distract ourselves with the comforts and clutter of life. But repentance requires something the mushy middle resists: the humility to admit that we really do need God. 

Isaiah tells us that the Holy One who inhabits eternity also dwells with the contrite and lowly in spirit. Not with those who manage their failures well, but with those who bring them honestly before him. The invitation is not to pretend we have it together. It is simply to turn back. And that is the doorway Peter walks through—the same doorway that remains open to us.

What’s in the Ears

This is the part where I share a song or podcast I’m currently into. I’ve recently shared a new album by Caroline Cobb and there’s one song on her new album I especially want to highlight. It’s called, Only the Sick Need a Physician. Perfectly suited to the theme of this post. Let me know if you check it out!  

If this stirred something in you, share this post with a friend or drop a comment below. I’d love to hear what small step you’re taking towards the flourishing life today! And don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.