Stooping

“…You stoop down to make me great.” Ps. 18:35

My friend mentioned that one of her “mommy habits” is that she always stoops before a child now when talking to him. I had to smile because I do the same thing, and I love it. Before I had children, I barely noticed children. Now every young child I see, I get the urge to kneel before them, look them in the eyes and listen carefully to whatever they want to tell me.

The gulf between the speaker and the listener must be bridged for real communication to take place. For Rhema, if there is any hope of eye contact and connection, I must stoop.  Standing over her simply will not do.  If she is lying on the floor, I get down on the floor.  I want her to see me seeing her. I want her to know she has my full attention. I want to gaze into her beautiful eyes and let her know that nothing at that moment is more important than experiencing her.

God stoops for us. Really, He does. He may seem like this lofty being who is distant, indifferent and uninvolved. But the Bible paints a different picture, one in which God is intimately involved with us and cares deeply about having a relationship with us. So much so that He, the God of the Universe, would stoop down from the royal heavens to the lowly earth to be near to us. It’s like an elephant crouching down to chat with an ant.

Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? Psalms 113:5-6 (NIV)

In John 8, a woman who had been caught in adultery was thrown to the ground before Jesus. She was to be stoned for her sins. But instead of accusing her, the Son of God stooped down next to the shamed woman and began writing in the sand. He straightened and said to the crowd, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then He stooped again next to the woman and wrote in the sand until all of her accusers had dropped their stones and walked away.

Even at our lowest points God loves us enough to stoop.

There are examples of God coming down to deliver us, to shield us, and to lift us up. (Exodus 3:7-8, Psalm 40:2, 2 Sam. 22:36, and the ultimate stooping: Phil. 2:5-11). But the image I love the most is God stooping to connect with me, to meet me where I am.

Sometimes when Brandon comes home in the evening, Rhema will be running circles around the living room. He gets on his knees with arms wide open, waiting for her to notice him and come to him for a hug. It has taken years of stooping, but now Rhema will pause and come over to give him a high-five and a hug. I imagine that God is stooping in a similar way, waiting for us to stop, acknowledge Him and experience His love…