“Reducing God: A Meditation on Isaiah 46” (Grace Note #2)

 “Reducing God: A Meditation on Isaiah 46” (The Message version)

(Grace Note #2)

By Gary L. Clendenon, August 11, 2014

In Isaiah 46, God continues making his case for His people to worship Him and not other idols (an often repeated theme in Isaiah). He says, in verses 5-7, “Can you picture me without reducing me?” What an excellent point He makes! All metaphors, pictures, and symbols of GOD are by their very nature incomplete caricatures. We like to, as the text goes on to say, have a God we can “carry around in holy parades, then take home and put on the shelf, [where] it sits, day in and day out, a dependable God, always right where you put it. Say anything you want to it, it never talks back. Of course, it never does anything either!”

We humans have a tendency to want things to fit neatly in our mental shelves and boxes, so that everything makes sense and feels safe. God knew about this and that is why he warned us about this in the first and second commandments: “Have no gods other than Me. Do not make for yourselves a god to look like anything that is in heaven above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not worship them or work for them.” (Ex. 20:3-5 NLV) Idols are safe replacements for the Real Thing. We make an idol out of GOD when we try to force him into our mold.

C.S. Lewis has a great quote making this point:

An ‘impersonal God’—well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads—better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap—best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband—that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (‘Man’s search for God!’) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us!

~ C. S. Lewis, Miracles (1947; repr. New York: HarperCollins, 1996), 150.

Later, in Lewis’ celebrated children’s book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he tells of the adventures of four children in the magical kingdom of Narnia. GOD & Jesus are represented by a lion named Aslan. When in Narnia, the children meet Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, who describe the mighty lion to them.

“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he–quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” (1)

This week, let's make our best efforts to let GOD be God. Let's break whatever molds we've tried to squeeze GOD into. Let's take GOD off the shelf and let Him have the whole room. Let's recognize the box we've put GOD in and, at the very least, let Him be bigger than we've imagined so far. Let's let GOD “talk back” to us, and move among us and our proceedings. Let's make sure that what GOD wants for our lives becomes more important than what we want. As we do that, it might feel scary and unsafe, but in the end, the results will be good. “GOOD!”

As GOD says, getting back to Isaiah 46 (8-11), “Remember your history, your long and rich history, I am GOD, the only God you've ever had or ever will have—incomparable, irreplaceable—From the very beginning telling you what the ending will be, All along letting you in on what is going to happen. Assuring you, 'I'm in this for the long haul, I'll do exactly what I set out to do...'” I think we can definitely apply these words to our lives and trust that GOD has a plan and it will be revealed.

(1) http://andrewgroves.wordpress.com/2008/08/17/aslan-is-he-safe/