Does God Have a Summer Home?

Some people have a Summer home and a Winter home. Even if I had the resources, I don't think I would ever be a candidate for owning two homes. My wife keeps a rather lengthy list of projects for me to do around the one house we live in-I shudder to think about two lists for two houses! Also, when it comes to what feels like home, I seem to have the capacity to be loyal to only one place…after a day or two into a trip, I want to get back home. But, for those who do have two homes, what are the criteria for selecting the two homes? Is it geography? Is it weather? Recreational sports? Friends?

What about God? Does God live in more than one place? You would think that heaven would be a hard act to follow, wouldn't you? The answer in the Bible is quite surprising! Isaiah 57:15 tells us:

For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place…

So far, not a big surprise. 'A high and holy place'-sounds a lot like heaven. So…what about His second home? Isaiah 57:15 continues:

…but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit…

To me, that was the surprise! First, why would God want to live anywhere other than heaven? Secondly, I never would have guessed that His criteria for selecting a second home would be 'with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit'! What does 'contrite and lowly in spirit' mean, anyway? Jesus gave a very clear example in Luke 18:9-14:

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

The Pharisee probably thought that if God was looking for a second home, He would want to live next door to him! But!!! Feeling spiritually superior to everyone else, confident of his righteousness, proud he wasn't a 'sinner' like everyone else, even bragging about his religious activities, the Pharisee represented the opposite of the 'poor in spirit'. No way God wants to live near this guy!

By contrast, the tax collector-by nature of his trade-was a dishonest man: he knew it and was fully aware that God knew it also. His prayer was simply for God to have mercy on him as a sinner. That is a man who is 'contrite and lowly in spirit'. That is where God likes to 'hang out'!

The Pharisee is not the only type of person God doesn't care to live near. Psalm 36:1-2 tells us about another 'undesirable neighbor':

An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.

Have you ever met this guy…someone who thinks he doesn't sin? Someone who cannot 'detect' sin in his life…and doesn't even want to talk about it? God has no desire to get near this guy! James 4:6 tells us:

That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

So! 'Poor in spirit'. Does that mean God wants us to have a deficient self-image and die a defeated failure? Not at all! In fact, The last phrase in Isaiah 57:15 tells us the reason God lives with the lowly in spirit:

…to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Proverbs 22:4 and 29:23 elaborate on God's purpose for reviving the heart of the contrite:

Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.

A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.

His purpose is not to degrade us, but to upgrade us. The poor in spirit are upgraded-the proud in spirit will be downgraded. Which we get is up to us:

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 14:11 NIV)

Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the LORD. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:2 NIV)

What about you? Do you meet the criteria for God's 'other home'?