O Lord, there is none like You among the gods, nor any works like Yours. Sermons
I. God is incomparable as the ONLY UNCAUSED BEING. II. God is incomparable as an UNSEEN SPIRITUAL BEING. III. God is incomparable as an INFINITELY HOLY BEING. IV. God is incomparable as the ONE BEING WHO CLAIMS UNIVERSAL HOMAGE. V. God is incomparable as the BEING WHO HAS ABSOLUTE POWER OVER ALL THINGS. VI. God is the BEING WHO REQUIRES A SERVICE OF CHARACTER, expressed in act and conduct - not of conduct alone. Scriptures dwell on this uniqueness of God (see Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 3:24; Isaiah 40. etc.). Being what he is, God alone, God all-mighty, God all-holy, he rightly claims that we should love him and serve him, "with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength." He must be first with us, because he stands forth before us as incomparable. - R.T.
Among the gods there is none like unto Thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto Thy works. Homilist. I. God's works in the MATERIAL domain have no equal.1. How exquisite in perfection. How delicate in structure, symmetrical in form and hue. Compare the finest fabric that the human hand has ever produced with the commonest flower of the field, and what a difference. 2. How infinite in variety! From the microscopic atom to that central orb that holds the material universe together, from the animalcule to the archangel, no two alike. How limited the range of man's inventions, what a sameness in all his productions! 3. How immeasurable in extent! "The works of the Lord are great," etc. Ill. God's works in the MORTAL domain have no equal.For example, how different the way in which God deals with enemies with the way men do! 1. God offers forgiveness to the rebel; man crushes him. 2. God offers forgiveness to the rebel after he has frequently refused it. 3. God offers forgiveness to the rebel, and makes the greatest sacrifice, "He gave His Son," etc. Verily, "His ways are not our ways." (Homilist.) II. THE OPERATIONS OF HIS HANDS. "Neither are there any works like unto Thy works." 1. In nature, who can make a tree such as God makes? You may make an imitation of it. Who can make a blade of grass such as God makes? 2. In providence there are no works like unto God's. If He send forth His servants, as He did Jeremiah, to throw down, root up, and overturn nations and empires. It is He that giveth power to get wealth, He it is that fixes the bounds of our habitations; nay, more, it is His constant employ to order the very steps of every good man. 3. Now, look at what might be accounted religious works, or what may be termed the work of grace. Can any god work like Him? III. THE DESIGNS OF HIS LOVE. 1. The salvation and redemption of His Church. 2. The new creation of every member of the Church, to qualify them to enjoy redemption. What a subject for personal self-examination! 3. The tribute of praise He designs shall be paid to Himself. "My glory," says He, "will I not give to another," nor my praise to graven images; therefore is there no god like our God, and no other god shall have any of His tribute. (J. Irons.) (W. L. Watkinson.) The psalmist is here speaking of the incomparableness of the workmanship of God. The perfection of the Divine action as we witness it in creation: "Amongst the gods there is none like unto Thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto Thy works." That is the utterance of the unsophisticated man as he stands in the presence of the grandeur of the world. You know that in the old story of the building of Aladdin's palace by the spirits, that they were disturbed in their work and they left one of the windows incomplete, and all the artistry of the East failed to finish that window and make it harmonize with the work already done. But I say if a bit of the sky had been left uncoloured, who would have dared to dye it? If the fragrance had been left out of the rose, who would have supplied it? But we are not left to instinctive admiration, for the critic comes along. There is not a man in this place but who knows that there is more said to-day about the imperfection of nature than about its perfection. Our artistic friends are sure they could have improved the world vastly if they had been consulted. The result is that many people speak much about the imperfections of nature, the imperfections of society, and the imperfections of life. Now, what are we to say about these? How are we to deal with these questions? Are we to deny them? No, not for one moment. Admit them, and then declare that the apparent imperfections of the world are only the proofs of a more glorious and more wonderful perfection. There are two principles which I want you to keep in mind while we follow this thought — that everything in nature is good in its place. It does not seem good if you take it out of its place. Now, when you went to Rome and had climbed to the dome of St. Peter's, the thing which struck you was the imperfection of the fabric, the material was coarse, the inlaying was carelessly done, and the colours were crude. But when you came down to the floor 250 feet beneath and looked up, it was a triumphant success; its very imperfection was its perfection. The artist knew that his work was to be looked at from the floor, and he made his plans accordingly. If he had finished it in fullest detail he would have defeated his own purpose. But instead he made it rough, and so created a picture of great beauty. It is just like that in nature. The sacred writer, with a fine discrimination, says: "Everything is beautiful in its time, in its season." Everything is beautiful in its order, everything is beautiful in its place, so that when a man sees only the imperfect or the unscientific, all I can say to such an one is that he has taken it out of its context, he has looked at it out of its perspective. There is a further principle, everything is good for its purpose. The ideally perfect is not always the ideally practical. One of the greatest scientists of this age has told us that if any optician was to send him an instrument as imperfect as the eye, he would return it at once with a severe reprimand for his carelessness. We are told that the eye has serious technical defects. The optician could make us a better, but he does not. I do not doubt that he could make us once more theoretically and ideally perfect. But if we got an eye like that, its very refinements would be an impediment to us. It would not be of service for its purpose. With all its defects the human eyes is good for its purpose. I want to say a word about the Divine action in the ways of God's government. The unsophisticated man looks on the world all down the ages, and he says, How wonderful, how marvellous in counsel! What providential leadings we have seen. Don't you be in too great a hurry, for you will have the critic down on you. He will ask you if you can shut your eyes to the suffering of the world, to the bankruptcies of civilization, to the tragedies of nations, and to the miseries of individuals. Let us go back to our first principle. Everything is good in its place. If you are going to judge wisely, you must have a true standpoint, and before we can judge history we must have such a true standpoint and wait long enough. In our day you have a new school of historians — the philosophical historian. The old historian used to give us pictures of things; he would tell us anecdotes about the kings, parliaments, and contemporaries, and the events of great personages. The philosophical historian is of another type. His method is to find out the succession and harmony of events. He says to you that "through the ages one increasing purpose runs." He tells you how the great nations have worked for one purpose. The Jew contributed ethics, the Greek beauty, the Roman jurisprudence, and he points out to you how the different nations were all working unconsciously for the bringing in of a wider purpose. Now, what I want to know is, why did not the philosophic historian come sooner? To see the providence of God sometimes you have to wait six, eight, or even ten thousand years, but what is that to you and me? We have plenty of time, for we are alive for evermore. God's plan runs on, and it is not for us to say Chat we can interpret His workmanship. If you had stood on the shore that day when the Mayflower steered her course from our land! The occupants were fleeing from tyranny in this country. Surely it was cruelty and a spectacle for pity. It seemed as if the great men and noble women were driven out to find a home in another part of the world. But we were too near to the pinnacle to see rightly. You wait until you get to the floor. Wait three hundred years, and the American Republic is God's interpretation of the Mayflower. The young people will not understand this, but it has its appeal to the patriarchs. They will agree with me that the difference in the past and the present vision of life is all a matter of a new perspective. Thus what was once a shapeless, purposeless confusion is revealed as the perfect plan of God. So I say to you, when you are tempted to judge God's ways hard, always be sure that you have waited long enough. "He maketh the wrath of men to praise Him." What is the purpose of the government of God? Is it to make us rich, or strong, or to make us famous and happy? If His government aimed at such results, it has broken down most pathetically. But it does not aim at such results. It aims at the moral development of the individual and the cleansing of the community, the making of a holy nation. These are the aims of His government, not material but moral aims. A German writer, in pointing out the defects of nature, shows that many animals are woefully defective. The organs of motion are often mechanically defective. We cannot argue with these men, they say it is so, and no doubt it is true. But t was most struck with the last line of the paragraph. He finished by saying, "Considerations of a higher order have determined these imperfections." I tell you that as I walk along the streets of the city and look on the suffering world, on the sickness and the loss, the poverty and the tears, I often whisper to myself, "considerations of a higher order have determined these imperfections." Ah! God sometimes smites us on lower grounds for higher purposes. He afflicts me to-day that He may give me to-morrow higher and better things, "considerations of a higher order have determined these imperfections." Let us consider this in relation to the Divine action in revelation. How you could emphasize this! How wonderful those pages have been to you, promises full of stars for dark times. Sweet pastures where the Shepherd leads His flock. But suddenly the critic comes down upon us, and he says with a mighty scorn, "That Book perfect! It is full of crudities, full of inconsistencies, and full of imperfections." Don't deny these charges, but reveal the greater perfection. The sun has spots, but you don't break it up and cart it away for scrap iron. Go back to your principles. Everything good in its place. Now, there are those who find fault with the Old Testament, and especially with the Pentateuch. I say to you that the Pentateuch has been effective not in spite of its imperfections, but because of them. It was the only way in which God could educate a sensual age. Just think of a rose looking down at its roots, and saying, "There is a nasty thing. It has got no colour, no shape, and no fragrance." But the root is perfect as a root, and the perfection of the root is the rose which graces its top. And I say to you to-day that you must not despise that Old Testament out of which you sprung. Boast not thyself against the root, for thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. It is also good for its purpose. What is the purpose of this revelation? It is to teach redemption, not geology or astronomy. It was to reveal God, and make you like Him. I was very interested during my visit to America in a correspondence on what would have been the effect if the sun had been another colour, say, if it had been green, or scarlet, or blue. It was a very amusing controversy, but I was most interested in the conclusion they arrived at, viz., that, on the whole, it was better as it was. The sun may be defective, but it ripens your corn, and colours your flowers. And so with the revelation of God: it fulfils its purpose. This book has illumined men, inspired men, and comforted men. His weakness is stronger than our strength. His weakness is greater than our wisdom.(W. L. Watkinson.) People David, Korah, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Compare, Deeds, Gods, None, Nothing, O, Works, YoursOutline 1. David strengthens his prayer by the consciousness of his religion5. By the goodness and power of God 11. He desires the continuance of former grace 14. Complaining of the proud, he craves some token of God's goodness Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 86:8 1150 God, truth of Library A Sheaf of Prayer Arrows'Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, hear me; for I am poor and needy. 2. Preserve my soul, for I am holy: O Thou my God, save Thy servant that trusteth in Thee. 3. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto Thee daily. 4. Rejoice the soul of Thy servant: for unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5. For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee.'--PSALM lxxxvi. 1-5. We have here a sheaf of arrows out of a good man's quiver, shot into heaven. … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture My Savior Whose Infinite Grace That it is Profitable to Communicate Often The Truth of God Sermons of St. Bernard on the Passing of Malachy The Mercy of God The Third Commandment Psalms Links Psalm 86:8 NIVPsalm 86:8 NLT Psalm 86:8 ESV Psalm 86:8 NASB Psalm 86:8 KJV Psalm 86:8 Bible Apps Psalm 86:8 Parallel Psalm 86:8 Biblia Paralela Psalm 86:8 Chinese Bible Psalm 86:8 French Bible Psalm 86:8 German Bible Psalm 86:8 Commentaries Bible Hub |