For those not thinking about Inauguration Day (Isaiah 57:15)

A good friend of mine succumbed to cancer yesterday. 

Today, the United States will be watching the inauguration in Washington DC. Reporters around the globe will be analyzing Trump and Pence. Biden and Harris. And then some.

My friend's family? Politics will be the last thing on their mind.

Consider the national and international headlines of the past twelve months. Rather, consider what did not make the headlines:
People were married. Babies were born. Loved ones died. There were announcements in local newspapers or church bulletins--but nothing made a newsfeed on Associated Press or Google. Elsewhere on our planet, some can only think of where they'll get another crust of bread or a get a swallow of clean water. Daily lives go unnoticed. Or do they?

"The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: 'I live in the high and holy place 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.'" (Isaiah 57:15, New Living Translation)

People can be crushed in spirit by the sheer weight of life, or by being on the bottom rung of society. However, it's one thing to be humiliated, it's another thing to be humble. God looks for anyone responsive to His offer of mercy and forgiveness, anyone looking to admit that they need Him.

Such people gain more than headlines. In ways that cannot even be put into words, they experience the presence of Almighty God. God doesn't just live "in the high and holy place," He also lives with the "contrite and humble". To God, it's one and the same place. The place of humility is a "high and holy place."

Father, for the one whose joy is overlooked, for the one whose achievements are unheralded, for the one whose grief is lost in obscurity, for the one whose voice is gagged, for the one who has nowhere to turn... For all of these, grant them humility. Grace them with Your presence. In Jesus name, Amen.