“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness. Why let the nations say, “Where is their God?” Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes. Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. O Israel, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield. O priests, descendants of Aaron, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield. All you who fear the Lord, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield. The Lord remembers us and will bless us. He will bless the people of Israel and bless the priests, the descendants of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord, both great and lowly. May the Lord richly bless both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth. The heavens belong to the Lord, but he has given the earth to all humanity. The dead cannot sing praises to the Lord, for they have gone into the silence of the grave. But we can praise the Lord both now and forever! Praise the Lord!”
Psalms 115:1-18 NLT
Our God is holy. This is an ontological truth. He is by nature a different being than the pantheon of idols and myths that are prevalent in the world. This, however, is not just an ontological truth, it is also an obvious truth. From God’s perspective, he cannot be compared to anything. But the psalmist demonstrates that an idol can be deconstructed by comparing an idol to a mere creation. Demonstrably, an idol is in need of creation. It is claimed that these Gods are above humanity and yet they cannot act as humans do. They are not transcendent. Yet YHWH, is not confined. Not only is he transcendent in essence, he is able to incarnate. He took on form many times before becoming manifest in Jesus. He is the source from whom humanity is derived. God is truly different than the gods of other nations. They all pail in comparison to who he is. He does not need us, but he wants us and makes sacrifices to achieve that. The gods and the pantheon need our worship and they demand our sacrifice to achieve it. They need nature to be understood. Nature is only understood by YHWH. He is a purely logical conclusion. This is why the psalmist writes that all of Israel ought to turn back to him. We ought to do so as well.
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