There is a verse that caught my attention today. As I was making a video of Psalm 50, one line jumped off the screen. In the section of the psalm in which God is chastising the wicked for their evil behaviour, God says this: "When you did these things and I kept silent, you thought I was exactly like you." God then goes on to tell them to prepare for judgment.
What a scary thought, that people would think that God was exactly like them. When this happens, we are making God into our image. Maybe he has our skin tone, our habits, our beliefs or our way of doing things. The danger is then that anyone who looks or behaves differently from us and our 'god' is not godly. They can become our enemy. Nothing good comes of making God in our image.
This is because to do so turns the world upside down. Genesis 1 tells us that we are made in the image of God. We are designed to reflect the character of God to the world in our speech, behaviour and worship. As human beings who have sinful natures, we are in need of God to save us from our sin and we are in need of God to shape us back into a cleansed image of God. Even at our best, on our own we can only present a distorted image of God.
The only human who has ever perfectly reflected the image of God is Jesus. As Paul wrote in Colossians 1.15 "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation."
It is because he is the perfect image of God, being God in human flesh, that he alone could offer himself as a sacrifice for all our sins. Only by his grace do we hear "Not guilty!" in God's courtroom.
The mistake the wicked make in Psalm 50 is that they misinterpret God's silence. They think that because God hasn't punished them for their wickedness, God must approve of it. Therefore, God must be like them. God warns them not to take his silence as permission or approval. We have the Bible, which reveals what is righteous and what is wicked. They should know better. They should know that God does not approve and that God will judge them. And indeed, God will judge all of us for our sins, unless we put our trust in Jesus.
Therefore, do not misunderstand God's silence. Do not make God into your image. Instead, humble yourself before God. Ask him to cleanse and shape you into his image, so that he may be glorified in you and through you all your days. Blessings on you!
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