One of the amazing things about our God is His perspective. Often we have become so familiar with the ideas and mindset of this world that we think it strange to consider the ways of the Lord. Consider for example God’s perspective on status. According to verse 6, God is on high. He is above everything. He doesn’t need anything; He isn’t lacking anything. Yet, David says, He regards the lowly. Romans 5:8 tells us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
To our fallen human minds, that seems strange—but this is the character of God, to care for the lowly. And along the same lines of this divine reversal, David says that God knows the proud only from afar. He distances Himself from the proud, because they believe they are somehow worthy of the glory and honor that is truly His. They somehow believe that they can make it on their own, and God allows them to try—though they are destined to fail unless they turn to Him.
Also, verse 8 contains a powerful truth. God loves and cares for His people. Therefore, David says, the Lord will “perfect that which concerns me.” All the things in our lives that concern us—our job, our finances, our families, our circumstances—these things God also cares about, and is working His perfect will in them. This is another verse that goes along with Romans 8:28, which tells us that God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him, the called according to His purpose. He is perfecting these things, like a patient Father, so that His best is the beautiful result. Though sometimes it is hard for us to understand, this is a concept we must trust Him in, for He sees the whole picture and we see but a part of the back of the canvas.
—Mark Knoles