Read: Isaiah 40:18-31
To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. (v. 25)
“That’s apples to oranges!” we say when two things that are essentially different are being compared. It’s an interesting idiom; actually, apples and oranges have lots of things in common. They are both fruit, they both grow on trees, and they are both delicious and nutritious. It’s not like comparing apples to Rottweilers—or Sherman tanks!
But what can we possibly compare to God? That’s the question our text asks repeatedly. Isaiah sarcastically suggested that we compare him to idols of wood or gold or silver. These gods made by human hands were powerless—they could not even move (v. 20). We can’t compare God to the princes and rulers of this world—“he blows on them, and they wither” (v. 24). He created the stars and knows them by name. He is “the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (v. 28). We can’t compare him to anything we know, and his understanding is unsearchable. We can never fully comprehend his nature, his power, or his ways.
And yet this same incomparable God gives power to the faint; he renews the strength of the weary. He fully understands our nature, and he has mercy on his children. This God, the one and only, so far above our understanding, is still intimately concerned about us. What a wonderful truth this is! —Laura N. Sweet
As you pray, thank the incomparable God for caring about you.
About the Author
Laura N. Sweet is a wife, mother, grandmother, and former Christian schoolteacher from Midland, Michigan. She writes devotional material for both adults and children, and her work has appeared in more than a dozen publications.
