Who is like me? Let them proclaim it, 
let them declare and set it forth before me.

Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be.

Isaiah 44:7

Who is like me? This is God’s challenge. Name anybody or anything that is like God – one who can tell what is yet to be. In the temptation story in Genesis, the devil’s proposal was simple, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."  (Genesis 3:4-5) The Psalmist also declared; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.  (Psalms 8:4-5). If there is any on earth that can challenge God and even claims to be like God – it would be no other than we, human beings.

To be like God is the most tempting proposal we have to face. Today, we have the potential and the capacity to tell ‘that what is yet to be’ in a small scale. We can now predict the weather, when a low pressure can become a typhoon and a hurricane and the probability of where and when it will hit the land. With satellite and radar tracking folks during Isaiah’s time will be fascinated. We can map out diseases through genetics some even suggests engineering designs to resolve problems projected in the future. There are still many things that we cannot control but the desire to control is part of the overall temptation to be like God.

Believers should not be against science or anything that helps us understand and address issues of life and death. What we should guard against is the appealing inclination to make science and our abilities as gods themselves, making them our ‘king’ and our ‘redeemer.’ With each success we will be tempted to think that we don’t need God anymore, anyway we can do it ourselves. So when God asks, “who is like me?” we do not look at others but we look at ourselves because as always the devil keeps whispering to us – “you will be like God.”  A Visayan proverb captures the essence between Creator and creature relationship, “ang langaw nga nakatungtong sa kabaw magpabilin nga langaw” (a fly resting on the carabao’s shoulder remains a fly). Let us work diligently to discover the wonders of life but let us not think even for a moment that we have absolute dominion life and all creation.

Prayer

You are God, we are your creatures.

Instill this truth in our hearts, always. Amen

[Like a seed planted in the soil, it is our prayer that God's Word will grow in us as we nurture it in our hearts. Allow the seed to germinate. Your reflections and responses are welcome. Please click on the Add a new comment icon below.] Past Daily Devotions are archived at the bottom of the Sermons page.