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God Is Not Man - Hosea 11:9
God Is Not Man - Hosea 11:9
As a young preacher, I went over to visit (and hopefully learn a few things) from Bro. Floyd Thompson. He was truly a ‘man of the book’. As I walked into his living room, he looked up from his Bible and asked me: “Where is that passage that states God is not man?” At that point in my life, I just remembered it was ‘one of the minor prophets.’ He was remembering an earlier passage – Numbers 23:19.
The point of remembering this passage was that he had just heard again for the umpteenth time – ‘the man upstairs’…. Almost always whatever follows that phrase is a misunderstanding of the true nature of God.
God is NOT MAN. He is not the invention of man. His ways are NOT our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts. It is a tremendous mistake to begin thinking that God is LIKE US. Such was the mistake of idolatry and mythology of the gods. They were sinful men dressed with great power, but they were NOT GOD.
I have witnessed that one of the hardest parts of learning is to learn to balance ALL the attributes of God without over emphasizing one or another. Getting this wrong will skew your understanding of God and lead to wrong thinking and wrong living.
In our reading, while we are learning all the stories of David and Goliath or Samson and the Philistines, let us learn who God IS. "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Why not begin today memorizing some of the great statements that God makes about Himself!?* If you were asked to describe God, what would you say? What attributes would you recite?
He is NOT the ‘man upstairs’, He is God.
Hugh DeLong
A few passages to get you started: (look them up, read them, memorize them, proclaim them!): Exodus 34:5-7; 1 Tim. 6:15-16; Numbers 14:18-19; Psa. 103:6-14; Isaiah 6:1-3; Psalm 5:1-6; Isaiah 44:6-8; Rev. 4:8-11; Romans 11:33-36.
