By Marilyn Ehle
“He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of his people. Psalm 113:7-8
Her picture graces two pages of a major religious news magazine.* She sits barefoot with her two children in a huge concrete drain pipe behind the factory where she works. Shivamma is from India, a woman of the Dalit caste, considered by those of a traditional Indian religion to be the lowest of the low. She is not only poor but is seen as comparable to the lepers of the Bible. She, her husband and their two children live in the pipe.
Shivamma represents millions of equally poverty stricken people around the world for whom a hot bath in a gleaming tub is unknown. Her calloused feet will never know a pedicure. While this woman wants greater things for her children, she and her family don’t see themselves as others see them. In fact, they consider themselves privileged to be earning enough money (approximately $5 U.S. per day) to one day move to a small house for which they have saved.
Regardless of the way this woman and her family are seen by those of higher position—indeed, by most of the world—they know their true position: “seated with princes.” This woman knows that God sees her as already raised from the dust, lifted from the ash heap.
*Christianity Today, July 2011
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http://thoughtsaboutgod.com/blog/2011/12/14/me_presence-of-princes/
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