Friday, May 19, 2017

Incomparable

So you buy a dog, just a mutt, but as good as any other dog. Now what to name him? How about this? “Incomparable”

That clearly does not work. Yours is a dog just like any other dog, perhaps more ordinary than most. And, we all are experts at making comparisons. You, and your dog, are comparable - easily compared, whether favorably or unfavorably, with others. Not so with God. 

God is incomparable. That is, He is in a category of his own. The Old Testament character, Job, says, “For He is not a man like me…” We cannot compare ourselves to Him, or Him to ourselves. But we often do, because that is what we do, and the result is that we begin to wrongly think of ourselves in god-terms, and we begin to think of God in man-terms. And that’s a problem. 

Imagine a God who cannot possibly be too full of Himself. He cannot be guilty of an arrogant pride - because He is in fact the fullness of glory and the sum of all perfection.

Imagine a God who has never made a mistake. He has never suffered regret or remorse. He has never second-guessed Himself.

Imagine a God who never grows wiser, since He is all-wise; who knows all contingencies, and who is never surprised.

We are not comparable to this God. We can easily trespass into wrongful pride; we make plenty of mistakes, and we desperately need more wisdom than we now have. We cannot compare ourselves to God, because He is incomparable.

This might potentially lead one to despair, for how can we relate to a God who is so different from us? But don’t forget: the Bible clearly teaches that God made us, without sin, and yet in such a way that we all are subject to weakness and to weariness. God made us this way, and He loves us this way. The Incomparable Creator loves his creatures, and fashioned them (us) in such a way that we live best when we acknowledge our weakness and need, and when we recognize our proper position of being dependent on Him. 

We acknowledge our weakness and need and dependance when  we heed His Word and receive His Son, in faith and obedience. Failing to do so, we prepare for ourselves a clash with the Creator and Redeemer who is in a class by Himself. Again, Job completes his thought, saying, “For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.” (Job 9:32 ESV)

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