Who is like God?

by Skip Heitzig | July 5, 2024

I have two dogs, and I've probably become one of those people that loves them too much. I don't go to the extent of putting sweaters on them or carrying them everywhere, but let's face it, they're spoiled.

I'm like their shepherd, and my dogs appreciate that. I take good care of them. In fact, when the other dogs in the neighborhood bark and moan, I like to think they're just wishing they were part of our flock.

Micah 5:4 gives a picture of Christ's second coming. "And He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God."

That Scripture reminds me of this one: "He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young" (Isaiah 40:11).

Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd. The quality of a sheep's life is completely dependent upon the character of the shepherd. If you have a lazy shepherd, the sheep will suffer. If you have a good shepherd, the sheep will be blessed and nourished.

So when David bragged in Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd" (v. 1), he was saying, "Look at who my owner is."

And what should be our response to His care? Offerings? Rituals? Sacrifices? No. Look at Micah 6:8. "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"

That sums up the whole law. You are to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity, passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy" (Micah 7:18). Micah used a play on words with his own name, Michayahu in the Hebrew, which means "who is like God."

He continues, "He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (v. 19).

Every year at the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, Orthodox Jews go to an ocean, river, or lake, and symbolically empty out their pockets, as if to cast all their sins out. They call this ceremony the Tashlikh, which in Hebrew means, "you will cast." During the ceremony, they recite the passage from Micah 7, including verse 19.

It's like what Corrie ten Boom said: "God casts all of our sins into the deepest sea. Then he puts up a sign that says, 'No fishing allowed.'"

Remind yourself of that when you want to say, "I remember when you did this or that," or when you are tempted to dredge up things from your past that make you feel like a failure. "No fishing allowed." They're in God's deepest sea, let them sink to the bottom—let them go.

The truth is, God has a big eraser. Jesus said, "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:17).

So "who is like God?" No one!

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