PONDERING BIBLE TEXTS?

Questions about being like God?

Isaiah 40:25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him

Isaiah 40:12-31 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. 20 He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. 21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

God Asks Us: "To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him?"

This question could also be asked: "who can compare themself to God?" This Bible passage alone is enough to clearly demonstrate that being "created in the image of God" leaves an enormous gap between who and what God is and who and what man is. If I claim to be, or aspire to be, a God like this God, I reveal a sad and deadly combination of blindness and arrogance.

God created us so that we could know Him, not so that we could become His peer. Reread, often, these verses and ask God to help you see that He alone is God as Romans 11:33-36 says: "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who ha known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor> Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever Amen."

Ponder:

? What are some things about GOD that are impossible for us to be “like Him?” (infinite, all powerful, all knowing…)

? Does thinking that men can become Gods, lift men up or bring God down?

? Is thinking that men can become Gods, ignorance or arrogance? What if it is primarily arrogance? (sin?)