“We Ain’t Him!”

"We Ain't Him!"     

   

    Each Friday morning, Frances and I enjoy the fellowship of our dear friends Wayne and Dusty.  We have breakfast with our brothers in Christ at a restaurant owned by believers who also bless us with their love for the Lord and for people (thanks, Bennie, Kathy, and staff!).  The food is great, and the occasion has become one of our favorite times of the week.

    This past Friday, Wayne made a statement in response to a comment by Dusty.  I don't recall exactly what Dusty said, but Wayne responded, "Well, we have to remember one thing: God is God, and we are not!" (actually, I think Wayne may expressed himself in his native Southern dialect, "God is God, and we ain't Him!)

   "Thou art God alone… Put them in fear, o Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men" (Psalm 86:10; 9:20).

   I would suggest that no statement more accurately and succinctly expresses the fundamental truth of Scripture than Wayne's comment: "God is God and we ain't Him!"  Long ago in Eden, Satan infected the human race with his deception that we can "be as gods" (Genesis 3:5).  No, we cannot.  God - the triune God of Scripture who dwells eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is God.  There is no other, and there never will be.  Many created beings exist, including conscious angels and people possessed of great gifts and capacities.  "Angels are greater in power and might… I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (I Peter 2:11; Psalm 139:13).  Moreover, born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are spiritually united to God in such a bond that the Apostle Paul declared, "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 6:17).  However, God forever abides as"God alone" and we forever remain creatures dependent on Him for "life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:25).

   The truth we consider is not difficult to remember in principle.  In practice, however, the devil, the world, and the flesh often tempt us to take over the reins of Divinity.  Every time we give in to fear about the present or the future, for example, we unwittingly seek to be our own god.  Indeed, by definition, believers have committed the care of both now and forever to our Heavenly Father.  We have wisely turned the reins over to Him in the confidence of His perfect - perfect! - ability to safely and effectively lead us through our lives.  "Thou art my hope, o Lord God, Thou art my trust from my youth" (Psalm 71:5).  Remembrance of such truth constitutes not only confidence in the Lord's promised leadership and enabling, but also remembrance of Wayne's wise counsel: "God is God and we ain't Him!"  Nagging insecurity and fear always involves forgetfulness of this foundational truth.  Thus, we overcome temptations to fear by the affirmation of one God.  Or, we return in repentance by the same truth if we have given in to the devil's deception.

    "God is God, and we ain't Him!"  That's fine Southern American vernacular.  It's even better Biblical truth.  Thanks, Wayne and Dusty, and thank You, Lord for the light of Your Word that graces us when we remember and affirm Your singular place as "God alone".  No other truth more graces us with the peace of the Lord Jesus.  Nor does any other truth more honor Him as we "give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name" (I Chronicles 16:29).  This day and this moment offers such opportunity to "worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness".  Thereby we experience the tranquility of ensuring that the reins of our lives rest safely in the only One who can successfully bear them for His glory and our benefit (Psalm 29:2).  

"I am the Lord, and there is none else.  There is no God beside Me."

(Isaiah 45:5)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "Not unto us, o Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy and truth's sake!"

(Psalm 115:1)