We gotta be careful when we connect human attributes to God.
Why?
Because the Lord is NOT a man.
He isn’t even a Superman.
The God of Israel is a whole other being who proceeds from another dimension beyond our time and space constraints.
He is without form.
He is Spirit.
Again, as the Torah says…
“God is not a man,
that He should lie,
or a son of man,
that He should change His mind.”
-Numbers 23:19
So when we read about smoke billowing from God’s nostrils…
Or fire shooting out of His mouth.
We can’t be like the Mormons and take that stuff literally.
These expressions are figurative.
The only reason the Bible uses these idioms is because…
How else could the ancients relate to a supernatural being in the heavens?
Ya feel me?
Even today in the Middle East, people describe anger as someone’s nostrils “heating up.”
There’s nothing wrong with ascribing human-like qualities to the Lord.
But we gotta be careful not to take it too far.
Why?
Because when we go too far in making God out to be human…
Like what the Christians do by making Yeshua God.
It becomes idolatry.
Ya feel me?
As the second part of the above verse from the Torah says…
The Lord isn’t fickle like human beings.
He isn’t happy one moment and angry the next as the situation changes.
So yeah, man, that’s your takeaway for today.
There is a line of demarcation that separates the Lord from mankind.
And never shall the twain meet.
Done.
I believe that the reason people have tried to humanize God is because we do not like being second in charge of our lives.
The more we humanize God, the less above us he becomes, and eventually (as religion has proven) we can explain why he does things (as if our mortal brains could understand the workings of an eternal mind) so we can excuse ourselves from having to do them.
The more human God is, the less we have to listen to him, and that is why I believe people want to humanize him.
Yup. Humanizing the Lord to make us feel better when we sin. I’ve been there myself.