Deuteronomy 4:15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire.
What Does God Look Like?
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Any time I’m talking to a friend on the phone, in my subconscious I can see an image of my friend. I wonder how you imagine God when you talk to Him? What does God look like? Certainly there is no one and no thing like the God Who exceeds the universe which He has built.
Deuteronomy 4 emphasizes what God’s people, Israel, had heard and seen. Verse 15 sums up this passage by saying, “For ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire.” In other words, these people had heard God’s words, but they had never seen His image.
This whole chapter is defined by words like “similitude,” “image,” “figure,” and “liken.” God is not similar to anything or anyone, nor can he be imagined in a person’s mind. Verse 32 makes it clear that God created man; man did not create God. And yet, it is so easy to define God by who we want Him to be instead of Who He has revealed Himself to be.
In verses 16-18 Moses warns Israel to not corrupt themselves by fashioning their image of God after a man, woman, bird, or fish. We tend to think, “God is powerful! If God could fly, He would fly like a bird. If God could swim, He would swim like a fish. If He looked like a human, he would look like Atlas.” Therein lies the danger. We create God in our image instead of allowing Him to define Himself.
Don’t imagine God to be anything less than what He has revealed Himself to be. Now, it’s wise to present God in a way that people can understand from where they are. For instance, many years ago, my grandfather preached in a remote part of Africa where the people had never seen an outsider. He described his trip as having come on “a big bird across the great waters.” That may sound funny to you, but that is the way he described his trip because of the background of the people to whom he was speaking.
We should present God in a way that people can understand without submitting God to people’s misconceptions of Him. He is not a man. Our worship of and obedience to God is to be a response to Him and not a reflection of the culture around us. God is great, infinite, mighty, loving, and gracious. We are not to limit Him to any aspect of Who He’s revealed Himself to be. We are to communicate God as He has revealed Himself to be by His actions and in His Words.