Psalm 50:21 These things have you done, and I kept silence; you thought that I was altogether such an one as yourself: but I will reprove you… I. THE NATURAL TENDENCY OF THE HUMAN MIND IS TO THINK OF GOD'S NATURE AS CORRESPONDING IN SOME WAY WITH THAT OF MAN. The anthropomorphic representations of God in the Bible appeal to this natural disposition of the human mind. Made originally in the image of God, we naturally think Him the image of ourselves. II. THE EXERCISE OF THIS TENDENCY PLUNGES THE HUMAN MIND INTO EGREGIOUS ERRORS. 1. The savage's ideal of his God is like himself — revengeful, cruel, destructive. As nations get civilized and refined, they associate corresponding passions to their own with their representations of the deities they worship — e, g. Greece and Rome. A theologian with an arbitrary and iron disposition will speak and write of God as Sovereign — arbitrary and inexorable. A theologian with a tender and benevolent disposition will write and speak of God as a gracious Father, full of pity and love. 2. We need to be on our guard; we have elements and materials for our conception of God (1) in our own consciousness, (2) in the works of nature, and (3) in the written Word; but all will be an apocrypha and not an apocalypse, without the light that comes along the pathway of intelligent obedience and unwavering faith. III. THIS TENDENCY IS THE SHADOW OF A GLORIOUS FACT THAT HAS OCCURRED IN THE HISTORY OF OUR WORLD. In the Incarnation God took upon Himself the likeness of man, but He did not become altogether like unto ourselves. Christ was superior to the highest and best of men — unique, incomparable in purity and power. (F. W. Brown.) Parallel Verses KJV: These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. |
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