Tony Robinson: None Like You

"In this is your greatness, Lord God, there is none like you . . . ." - 2 Samuel 7:22 

This verse is part of a prayer of David somewhere in the midst of his great run from giant-slayer to king. Praising God, David says, "There is none like you," no other god like you. 

Is that just holy hyperbole, something that all people declare of their deity, something each religion says of its god? (After all, who wants a god that's like all the others?) 

Maybe, but remember David's story. He was the last kid picked for the team. In fact, when the team gathered for pre-game warm-ups he was nowhere to be found. He was down on the back forty mucking the sheep while his older, smarter, bigger, stronger brothers were under review by the coach, a.k.a. God's prophet, Samuel. 

But after Samuel had looked over all the big, strong, smart and most-likely-to-succeed, he asked father Jesse, "Do you have any other sons?" "Well, yes," said Jesse, "there is one, the youngest, he's small, out with the sheep." "Bring him," said Samuel. 

"This is the one," said God to Samuel. "Anoint him." 

How odd is this God! (I'm reminded of Walt Breuggemann's remark that "The strangest thing about the Bible is God.") 

To say "none like you" is not just saying, "you're the best." It is also saying, "God, you never cease to surprise us. You never cease to do things in unexpected ways, through unexpected people. Just when we think we have you figured out, you surprise us once again. 

You come to us as a completely vulnerable, flesh-and-blood baby who is born, not in the right neighborhood, but in the wrong one, and who is born not to the perfect family, but to a-well-different kind of family, in a different kind of way . . . and yet it is all perfect, just perfect. 

God you are odd. There is none like you. Thanks be to God. 

Prayer  

Keep surprising me God, keep coming in ways and people I don't expect. Amen.

From UCC's StillSpeaking Devotionals. Visit UCC.org