September 17, 2023

Isaiah 46: 5 “To whom will you compare me or count me equal? To whom will you liken me that we may be compared?” (NIV)

“Can you picture me without reducing me?” -God*

We may not know what Jesus looked like but when we see a painting that is supposed to depict him, we know who the artist meant for us to think it is. Well . . . there’s the one I’ve seen on Facebook that is actually an actor in costume for his role in a Star Wars movie. And the one of a creepy-looking guy kind of floating in the air – I know that’s not what Jesus looked like! The fact is, if we were to try to liken him to someone physically, it would be a dirty, unkempt Jewish guy – he lived in the desert and had no indoor plumbing for convenient bathing.

But God doesn’t want us to remember his Son for what he looked like. He wants us to remember him for who he is: God. And God can not be compared to or counted equal with anyone or anything. He is the one and the only. No matter what human imagination has devised and called “god,” there has never been one who is perfect. Why is it that we are drawn to worship someone who doesn’t love us unconditionally? Why continue to worship someone who is dead and will stay that way? How can you worship an object that can’t move itself?

As God reminds us in verse 9 of this chapter, he is God, and there is no other; there is none like him. There is no comparison between him and any other being – only contrast! And worship should be our natural response to the only one who is God.

Humble worship is the only logical response when a created being encounters the Creator of all.*