For You deliver the afflicted people, but You bring down proud eyes.
This verse sets the humble in contrast with the proud. “The afflicted people” here represents those who are oppressed and have no ability to save themselves by their own strength. The Lord sees their condition and delivers them. But “the proud eyes” is the image of a proud and self-confident person who considers himself exalted and does not want to acknowledge his dependence on God. Such pride the Lord brings low. Humility is not self-degradation, but recognizing one’s true condition. For the believer, this word is at the same time comfort and warning. When a person is oppressed and his strength seems insufficient, he can trust that God sees and is mighty to deliver. But when a person, in success or strength, begins to rely on himself, he can easily fall into pride, while this verse reminds us that the Lord humbles the proud. Therefore, the believer’s right posture before God is humility: to recognize one’s own need, to rely on His help, and after deliverance not to attribute the glory to oneself, but to the Lord.