Compare and Contrast

Compare and contrast. Those used to be my least favorite questions in school. The teacher or the book would present two different things, be they systems of thought or different items, and they would ask you to compare and contrast. They wanted you to list what was similar about the two and also what was different. I might have disliked these questions because they required you to know everything about not only one thing but two. I remember for many homework assignments and on not that few of test comparing systems and also contrasting them. I would have to rack my brain to think how are these similar and how are they different. The great thing about this was that once you have done one, compare or contrast, the other was easy to do. You just had to list everything you haven’t mentioned. I was reading a Psalm the other day and I could not help but think of compare and contrast.

Psalm 36

1Transgression speaks to the wicked

deep in his heart;

there is no fear of God

before his eyes.

2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes

that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.

3The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;

he has ceased to act wisely and do good.

4He plots trouble while on his bed;

he sets himself in a way that is not good;

he does not reject evil.

5Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,


your faithfulness to the clouds.


6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;


your judgments are like the great deep;


man and beast you save, O LORD.

7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God!


The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.


8They feast on the abundance of your house,


and you give them drink from the river of your delights.


9For with you is the fountain of life;


in your light do we see light.

10Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,


and your righteousness to the upright of heart!


11Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,


nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.


12There the evildoers lie fallen;


they are thrust down, unable to rise.

Compare and contrast, that is what David is doing here in this Psalm. He starts with humanity. He speaks about our sinful nature in that our hearts listen to transgression and we do not fear God. This is so interrogated in our condition that we flatter ourselves to the extent that we no longer see our sin in our lives. We have blinded ourselves to our true state by thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to. We speak deceit and we no longer do good. We don’t only talk evil but our actions are evil. Every aspect of who we are is tainted. Humanity is in the grip of evil so much that it is the thing we think about, before we go to bed and right when we wake up. We think on things that are evil and how we can get away with evil. We don’t fight it, we have given in and dwell in it.

Humanity is than compared to God. And through this comparison the majesty of God is made known and the fallen of man. That is the great thing about compare and contrast, it really lets us see where you can place things relative to each other. When compared to humanity God couldn’t be more different. Where man is supremely wicked, God is supremely good. His love is so vast that it can’t be measured. All of what he is, is so great that it is greater than the heavens, it reaches to the clouds, it is bigger than mountains, it is deeper than the seas. It is the love of the Lord and his vastness that allows people to take shelter under him. People find comfort, love, safety, refuge under God. God sustains and nourishes us. He provides and cares for us. He is the light and the life.

When compared to this, humanity couldn’t seem smaller. Compared to God we know our place in the world. This shouldn’t get us down. It shouldn’t be a source of despair. The focus is on the greatness of God. God is great, so great that he leaves humanity in the dust. It is for this reason we worship God.

So compare for yourself….