Worshiping God as He Truly Is

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image.” (Exodus 20:4)

Far from simply a prohibition of statues or even religious art, this decree from a loving God for His people encourages us to worship God as He truly is.

Shortly after the command was given, Moses’ brother Aaron caved in to mob anxiety and fashioned for the Church of his day the infamous Golden Calf. When he presented it to the congregation, he shouted, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” Some of them—actually, a lot of them—fell for it: they worshiped in their foolish and wicked way and suffered God’s judgment for it.

But others could not be so easily fooled. “What? I don’t care how golden it is—our God a moo cow? The God who turned the Nile River into blood and blotted out the sun for three days straight? The God who parted the Red Sea—we walked through it, for crying out loud!—and then drowned the entire Egyptian army in it? Let the Hindus have their cow-gods: our God is inexpressible in His greatness!”

Of course, the Bible itself describes God with metaphors and allusions to help us know what God is like. He is a Rock and Fortress, but He is not a rock and a fortress but far more. Take “rock-ness” and “fortress-ness” out to the nth degree, to infinity, and you have one aspect of what God is like. As a fortress will protect you from the invading army, even so our God will protect you from your enemies—only He does it infinitely better than the mightiest fortress on earth.

Even so God is called a “Man of War,” but He is no mere man, and we cheat ourselves and dishonor Him to think of Him so. Just as Christ is a “greater than Solomon” in His infinite wisdom, so God is not only mightier than the strongest and bravest of men, but also more compassionate, more forgiving, more patient, more intelligent, more understanding, more condescending, more kingly, and more “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

We will never come to the end of finding out what God is all about—after all, God is infinite in His glory, and we are finite and always will be. But we are to worship Him as He has revealed Himself to us—in His Word and in His Son especially—and, among other things, that will guide our prayers.

Pray to a God who is your Father, who loves you for Christ’s sake, who will never leave you nor forsake you, who protects you from your enemies, who gives better gifts to His children than the kindest father on earth. Pray to a God who is jealous for your love and utter devotion, yes, and is angry with those who are unfaithful to Him; but remember in your prayers He is also rich in mercy, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness. Pray to a God who is not like a man and will not lie to you but will fulfill all His promises to you and will keep His end of the covenant He has sealed with the blood of His own Son.

Never settle for a God of man’s making, but rather pray God to re-make you in His image, in the image of His glorious Son.

“Heavenly Father, we praise You this day as the God who is invisible yet who has revealed Himself to us. We praise You as the God who is more than any man yet who reveals His express image in the Man Jesus Christ. We give You thanks for unveiling Your glory in Christ and for revealing to us who You are and what You are like in Your Word. Teach us, O God, how we are to worship You in truth. Take away any false understandings or false imaginations we have concerning You. And fashion us, dear God, after the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.”