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Scripture
He lifts the poor from the dust
and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes,
placing them in seats of honor.
For all the earth is the Lord’s,
and he has set the world in order. 1 Samuel 2:8

Observation
Long before the movie came out, I loved the book Horton Hears a Who. As a child, I was fascinated with the fantasy of microscopic people living on a tiny dust speck cared for by a sensitive elephant. As an adult, the story lingers with me when I think of the desperation of townspeople, with their world upside down, shouting with all their strength to have their prayer heard by someone outside of their tiny world. There is a lot of powerful theology in Dr. Suess about the frailty of man and the omnipotence of God.

Life can be like a snow bubble filled with a quiet village scene, water and fake snowflakes, turned upside down. The bad guys win and the little guys get crushed under the rubble. But no life is a closed system, for, to use Dr. Suess’ story to explain, the Elephant as squeezed into our dust speck and has lived on the planet with us. As hard as it is for us to comprehend a Pachyderm fitting into a bit of dust, so too Christmas, the incarnation and God in a manger is just as challenging. God has entered our world and is in the business of putting things right.

Application
Hannah, the childless mother, henpecked by her rival, cried out to God and experienced a miracle. No longer was she at the bottom of the pile. God had seated her in a place of honor. She sang a song to celebrate her answer to prayer. Hannah sang that song for us. Her melody is something of a lullaby for those who feel their world is out of order. Her words give us courage to ask for more. For a person living at the garbage dump the thought of living in the king’s palace with the royal sons seems very out of reach. But anything is possible for the Lord, for he is more than just the protector of our speck of dust, he has downsized and stepped onto the surface to change our lives. The Lord can put our world right again.

Prayer
Father, I’ve seen film clips in reverse, where spilt milk refills the cup and a burned back returns to its origin. Our prayer for help is asking for something like this. It seems out of reach but with you all things are possible. Because the earth is yours, put our world in order. Amen.