#PraiseHim - A Wrinkled View (Psalm 113:4-6)

A Wrinkled View

Psalm 113: 4-6

The Lord is high above all nations,

and his glory above the heavens!

Who is like the Lord our God,

who is seated on high,

who looks far down

on the heavens and the earth?

I was one of those kids who had tons of opinions, and I know that it has always been clear to the people around me. I usually made statements that tended to sound like a factual force of opinion that was hardly ever taken with a grain of salt. Most of the time the things I said were brushed off because I always thought that my thoughts were aligned with the facts. 

Don't we all do this to a certain degree? Don't we all tend to believe that our ways and our stance on something is the correct or appropriate perspective? This kind of thinking does not lend itself to only to sports, politics, and music. 

This kind of thinking makes us believe that the way we think something should happen, look, or turn out should be the right way. We naturally want to believe that God has the wrong way. We end up thinking that we are like God in that we believe our plans, ways, and interpretations should be correct stance, and we believe that God's plans, ways, and interpretations are the incorrect stance.

These two verses set us up to see that God is holy. What does it mean when I say that God is holy? John Piper said it clearly when he said this:

"God is holy means that God is in a class of perfection and greatness and value by himself. He is incomparable. His holiness is his utterly unique and perfect divine essence. It determines all that he is and does and is determined by nothing and no one outside himself. His holiness is what he is as God which no one else is, or ever will be, and it signifies his intrinsic, infinite worth."

God is in a class by Himself. He is very much unlike us in that He is perfect. Perfection can be a hard thing to grasp because nothing on earth is perfect, so even our attempts to define holiness falls short of its real meaning. Think about this: Our definition of perfection is imperfect.

So, when it says in Psalm 113:3-4 that God is above all nations and there is no one like Him, the psalmist is saying that God deserves our praise because His ways and His thoughts are so much higher than our own.

Isaiah 55:8-9 states it so clearly:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts." 

This is one of the most comforting passages in Scripture to me, but sometimes after thinking about this verse it leaves questions unanswered. The comfort of knowing that God's ways and thoughts are higher than my own is not always comforting because I sometimes doubt the promises of God. Doubt is a sign of unbelief in God's goodness, His faithfulness, and His graciousness.

When we doubt God we actively think that our ways and our thoughts are more faithful and based on truth. We naturally think that our ways are best, but how did that how did that happen? When did people start doubting God's promises and His ways?

Doubting God's promises started with our ancestors, Adam and Eve (Genesis 3). Adam and Eve doubted that God told them the truth about the tree, and they believed in the lie that they could be like God by eating from the tree. Adam and Eve had no reason to doubt God's promises. Ever since Adam and Eve we have been born sinful and naturally desire everything that defies God and His ways.

I remember when a teacher told my class to take a piece of paper and make it into a tight paper ball. After we all did this we were told to try to make it flat again. We quickly realized that no matter how hard we tried we could not get it back to the way it was originally. This is sort of like our human nature. Adam and Eve had a sinless nature, but they sinned and could no longer have a perfect relationship with God again. They could no longer fully desire God's ways and thoughts.

What is the solution? If we can't fix it ourselves, what are we to do? How can we overcome our sinful nature and have a perfect relationship with God where we desire His ways and thought?

All questions find their answer in Jesus Christ. Adam brought sin. Jesus brought redemption. Adam brought condemnation. Jesus brought forgiveness. Adam brought death. Jesus brought life. (Romans 6)

We can't overcome our sinful nature. Only Jesus can overcome sin.

On our own, we can not desire God. We need God to reveal Himself to us by the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts and minds to love Jesus. The Holy Spirit testifies to Jesus' work on the cross, and Jesus displays the love of the Father for His children!

We were dead in our sin, but Jesus made us alive (Ephesians 2). Our minds are transformed to desire the will of God (Romans 12:1-2). Once we repent for our pride and make ourselves humble before God, He forgives us and gives us a clean heart and a new mind that desire Him.

We are always tempted to believe that our ways are straight and our ways are correct, but we need to go to the Bible to test our thinking on every subject. God has revealed His ways and thoughts for us so that we could test our thinking.

God is holy and we are not. God's ways and thoughts are perfect and ours are wrinkled. God is above all nations and peoples and we are not. God is not like us and this should give us great joy!

God is good and gracious.

Jacob Luis Gonzales