LOWLY
In your midst I will leave a humble and LOWLY people, and those who are left in Israel will seek refuge in the name of the Lord.
Israel’s story begins in obscurity, with no great fame or riches to guarantee its security or growth. Its faith is a tiny flame. Each step on the journey involves the protecting of that flame. For the flame of God’s plan to grow the humble and loving faith of a small group of people is needed. These are the ‘lowly’. The circumstances of their lives are such that they know their need of God.
In the Old Testament the lowly are known as the anawim. Sr Maria Boulding osb, in her book, The Coming of God’ explores their role in the story of salvation:
‘These anawim appear as the spiritual kernel of the nation from the seventh century BC. These were the have-nots, the underprivileged, the powerless, the oppressed, the people whose economic poverty drove them to unlimited trust in God.
The poor were the humble, the people who were obedient to the will of God, those whose very misery had forced their hearts open to him.’
God constantly entrusted himself in love to the people of Israel. Those who were poor and humble had space enough to receive him. They had lived lives of faithfulness to the Torah and could do no other than follow its commands.
Can you name the anawim in your own life?
What can they teach you?
(Tuesday, Week Three, Zephaniah 3:1-2. 9-13)