Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly, but the proud He knoweth afar off. Psalm 138:6
When K.C. Irving died, an incredible variety of people showed up at the funeral home to pay their respects. Mr. Irving was a billionaire industrialist who made his fortune in the energy, forestry, and services industries, and during his 92 years encountered many thousands of people, most of whom he knew on a first-name basis. I was sent to interview some of the people in the lineup at the funeral home. The premier of the Province of New Brunswick was there. So were many of the current and former government ministers, and the heads of the largest companies in the city and in the province. But so too were some of the ordinary people with whom one would never associate the name with that of a billionaire. I spoke with a retired janitor whose job was the clean the floors of Mr. Irving’s headquarters. He told me Mr. Irving never passed him in the hallway or encountered him on the street without pausing to chat about family, weather, and the issues of the day. Other people of humble means told me the same types of stories. Mr. Irving apparently never encountered anybody who was beneath the dignity of his company. Mind you, he was also comfortable in the company of great leaders and men of power, and he skillfully used his friendship with them to his advantage. So he was only partly like the God of Heaven in His relationship with people.
Compared to God, Mr. Irving was a pauper. The One Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and the wealth in every mine is the holder of all resources and power. He is the only One who is worth knowing, and yet, to know Him, we must not aspire to wealth and power, but to humility and poverty. Those of us who can make a case for getting no respect in this world can rest assured of the respect of the Almighty.
This is not a small thing to know and understand. This is a tremendous lesson for us to grasp. As those about us engage in name-dropping, bragging about the wonderful people who they know, we can send up a little prayer of thanks that we know the One who is greater than all.
Pride is the greatest sin. It’s also foolish to be proud because we have nothing to be proud of. God appreciates the lowly, because they are honest about themselves. Are you? -Jim MacIntosh