And yet.

While that advice is good - and potentially hurt protecting and thus marriage saving - the Bible gives us a number of examples where a couple do make comparisons. But these are general and never direct. They compare to un-named others not to a specific other and certainly not an ‘ex-‘. And they are always positive.

Think of the husband speaking to his wife in Proverbs 31:29: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” Far from denigrating his wife, far from denigrating other women, he speaks highly of them all. But his highest praise is for his wife, because, in comparison to all these other excellent women, she’s unbeatable! What might that do to a woman’s confidence and self-worth she knows her husband means it when he says it? And might that, at least in small part, explain why the woman of Proverbs 31 exudes a ‘can-do’, multi-competent attitude?

Or think of what the man and the woman say of each other in Song of Songs and the comparisons they make. Sure, some are a little esoteric to our ears, but the thinking behind others is abundantly clear. Take what the man says in 1:9: “I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.” Now, comparing your wife to a horse is maybe not the best move, but look closely at what he’s saying. Her presence excites him the way the presence of a mare would excite the stallions pulling Pharaoh’s chariots. He is as distracted by her beauty as they would be of that mare.

Then again, in 2:1, the woman describes herself humbly as ‘a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.’ In other words, she’s saying, I know you find me beautiful (see 1:15 where he tells her so) but my beauty is no better than that of a common flower. But look how he responds: “As a lily among brambles, so is my love among the young women” (2:2). He’s comparing her beauty to that of all other young women (again, he mentions no names) and says, there is no comparison. You stand out like a lily among thorns. And given that there are a number of places in the Song where she makes comments about herself that suggest that at times she has a less than positive view of her own body, that might be just the kind of comparison she does need to hear.

Can some comparisons be destructive at worst, unhelpful at best? Yes, without question. But there is also a type of comparison that builds up, that helps us see our worth in the eyes of one whose opinion matters to us. And sometimes we need to hear that. Sometimes the one you love needs to hear that.

But that need points us to something higher and deeper: the need to hear words of love and approval from the One Opinion that counts above all others. And that is what the gospel offers us. Not a comparison to others, but a word of undeserved acceptance, because Christ, the incomparable one, was rejected and scorned and crowned with brambles, and his appearance marred beyond any comparison (Is 52:14) so that we might be made beautiful. Hear that word, believe that word, and it has a humbling and healing and confidence-building power beyond even the most loving comparison a loved one can make.

At its heart is a call to the people of Israel to compare. To compare between YHWH and Baal, and stop ‘limping’ between the two: “If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, then follow him” (v21). As I’ve previously written, it was not that the people had given up on YHWH completely, it was that they were dividing their affections and loyalty between him and Baal. 

It was by forcing them to compare the two that Elijah intended to end that state of affairs.

And as the contest gets under way, Elijah calls the people’s attention to an obvious, or seemingly obvious, mismatch. He compares his solitary status as the last man standing of the LORD’s prophets to that of the 450 prophets of Baal (v22). If spiritual power lay in numbers he was outnumbered and outgunned. But as Elijah points out - this was not a contest to be decided by a popular vote. Rather, “The God who answers by fire, he is God” (v24). That was to be the crucial comparison.

With the contest underway, Baal’s men called upon him to act, from morning until noon and on until ‘the time of the offering of the oblation’ (v29), that is, 3pm. But despite working themselves into a 6-hour frenzy of self-harm and gushing blood, there was no response from Baal. How could there be? Instead, we are told, ‘There was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention’ (v29).

In comparison, Elijah’s preparations were decidedly cool. Cold stone was placed on cold stone as he assembled an altar of twelve stones, each representing a tribe of Israel. A trench was dug, wood was placed and the pieces of the sacrifice arranged. And then in place of the gushing blood of Baal’s men, Elijah ordered that jar upon jar of water be poured upon the altar. Four jars, poured out three times each. Twelve jars in total, one for each tribe, until the water ran freely.

And in comparison to the raving of the prophets of Baal, when Elijah spoke he was calm and collected: “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel” (v36). And whereas with the false prophets there was no voice, no answer and no attention paid, this time the response was immediate: fire from heaven (v38). With that the people rapidly made up their minds: “The LORD he is God, the LORD he is God” (v39). The comparison had been made for them.

As you consider the opposition that faithful, orthodox, historic Christianity increasingly faces in our Western culture, remember the contest of Mt Comparison. In comparison to those standing against you, you may feel solitary and alone. That’s how Elijah felt. But the LORD is still God, and that fact is never decided by a majority vote. But also, take the time to compare the LORD to the idols that capture your heart. It’s by comparing them to him that you can truly begin to break free of them. And as you do, the fire will fall in your heart, or, at least, it will begin to burn more brightly.

What is David doing? On the face of it, he is comparing Goliath to Israel’s army - one man compared to so many, surely this is no competition. But it’s more than that. He’s comparing Goliath’s power to God’s. Goliath is an ‘uncircumcised Philistine’ - meaning, he’s not a member of God’s covenant people, he’s fighting in his own power, and the power of his pagan gods, who have no power.

In contrast the army of Israel is ‘the armies of the living God’. Does the plural armies suggest that David understands, as Elisha did, that ‘those who are with us are more than those who are with them’ (2 Kings 6:16)? That as the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him (Ps 34:7), so his angelic armies are camped around the army of God’s people? Maybe. Or maybe David is simply using the plural for the armies drawn from all the different tribes of Israel. Regardless, they are the armies of the living God. And God’s power is infinitely greater than Goliath’s. So why fear him? All David and the people of Israel have to do is make the right comparison.

Saul, however, was not making that comparison. But he did make another. David came to him saying he would fight the giant, to which Saul replied, incredulously, “You are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth” (1 Sam 17:33). He’s making a comparison of experience: ‘that giant’s been fighting and winning fights for as many years as you’ve been alive, sonny.’ But that prompts another comparison from David. He recounts the wild animals he’s killed and then declares, “This uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them” (1 Sam 17:36). David too has been fighting and he compares Goliath to the lions and bears he has already faced, and beaten. He knows that Goliath will soon be like one of them.

But where does David’s confidence lie? Goliath’s lay in himself - “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” (1 Sam 17:43). David’s lay in God - the God whose armies Goliath had insulted (1 Sam 17:36). And the battle had hardly begun before the giant fell dead.

It was such victories that prompted the women of Israel to greet the returning heroes with singing, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (1 Sam 18:7). A comparison that did not endear David to Saul. In fact, ‘Saul was very angry and this saying displeased him… and Saul eyed David from that day on.’ (1 Sam 18:8-9). And the eye with which he eyed him was the green eye of jealousy. It was the destructive result of comparison.

David compared threats and enemies to God and faith and courage flourished. Saul compared threats and enemies to seemingly meagre human resources and fear and disbelief and inaction flourished. Goliath compared himself to others, favourably, and died. Saul heard himself compared unfavourably to another and it ate away at him.

The lesson is clear: to what and how you compare yourself and others matters. Your life and your sanity depend on it.

A beast rises out of the sea - the place of chaos and confusion - and to it the dragon gives ‘his power and his throne and great authority’ (Rev 13:2). On one of its heads it seems to bear ‘a mortal wound’ but it’s a wound that’s ‘healed’ (v3). It’s the wound inflicted by Christ when he crushed the serpent’s head at the cross and in turn his heel was bruised (Gen 3:15). But the fact that the wound appears to have healed is a mockery of Christ’s resurrection, for its recovery is only temporary.

But that does not stop the mockery. The beast’s appearance of invincibility causes ‘the whole earth’ to marvel and to follow it (v3). And if comparing God to all others inspires worship, it is in worship of the beast that his followers make their own comparison: ‘They worshipped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” As GK Beale points out, ‘their words are a mockery… of words rightly used toward God in the [Old Testament].’¹ And like the words used of God, these words are designed to inspire worship. Or, rather, intimidate true worship. To promote, if not trust, then at least allegiance. After all, the words ‘who can fight against it?’ demand the response ‘no-one.’ No one can stand up to the beast or against it. No one can resist it. So, give in now, all resistance is futile. It’s the propaganda of every totalitarian power. But then, as Tom Schreiner writes, it’s a time-honoured formula, for ‘people support a winner.’²

But what the beast and his worshippers will never do is encourage you to compare it to God. That would be like a totalitarian state allowing windows in its walls. Seeing the outside world, making comparisons, might prove fatal. 

But it is exactly that comparison that the apostle John encourages you to make: ‘For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world’ (1 John 4:4). It is precisely by comparing God to the dragon, the real Victor over death to the mimicry of the beast, that hope is born, resistance is forged and overcoming becomes a reality. 

John has no fear of windows. It’s through windows that the light floods in.

^1. Beale GK, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary, 2015; 272. 

^2. Schreiner Thomas R., ESV Expository Commentary, Vol XII: Hebrews - Revelation, 2018; 669. 

And yet, we’re invited to compare Him to others, but not so we can find an adequate comparison, but to realise there is none, to be left without words.

Take Psalm 89. If CS Lewis argued that if we could see the kind of glorified person our neighbour will be in eternity we would be tempted to fall down and worship them, mistaking them for the divine. That was certainly the experience of Bible saints encountering angels. Yet not even angels come close to being comparable to God, the psalmist says. ‘Who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD, a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?’ (v6-7) So, in a council chamber of the most awesome, holy, heavenly beings, God is incomparably more awesome and fearsome. Who can be compared to him? No one. 

And the psalmist’s point is that that is a reason for praise. We may not have the words to adequately describe him, but we should still give our awe and wonder voice. Verse 5 says, ‘Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!’ And he tells us why:  v6, ‘For…’ And what follows are the verses above. For… no one, not even the most awesome beings in creation, compare to him.

But it’s not just the psalmist who invites us to make that comparison, so does Isaiah the prophet: ‘To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?’ (Is 40:18). And you can hear the incredulity as he voices, if not the words, then certainly the practices of the people: ‘An idol!’ (v19).  But this is the God who sits above the heavens, stretching them out, to whom earth’s inhabitants are like grasshoppers and who has the power to bring princes and the powerful to nothing (v21-23). And yet, you compare him to an idol of gold, silver or wood? (v19-20).

Then God himself asks the same question: “To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?” (Is 46:5). Like Isaiah, he too proceeds to describe the folly of taking silver and gold, hiring a goldsmith, and making an idol - an idol to worship, an idol as a God-substitute, an idol you have to pick up and carry! What kind of comparison is that? As God says, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me” (46:9).

And that points us to why we should compare God to idols and angels. It's not just to praise him, but to trust him. Nothing you might put your hope or trust in can compare with him. Nothing in all creation, and nothing you can create, comes close to him. Wealth, reputation, career success, human teachers, family and friends, ultimately they all fall short in comparison to him. They might be good, they might even be great, they might even be awesome, but the one we should worship and trust is God.

And there is only One who adequately represents that incomparable God: his Son - ‘He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature’ (Heb 1:3). It's him we should trust.

Consider Job. A righteous man who suffered terribly, Job deserved answers if any man did. But did he get them? No. In fact, what he got was more questions - questions directed at him. Questions to get him to compare himself, not to those who suffer more than him (that would be to provoke guilt) or less than him (that would be to provoke bitterness) but to compare himself to God. Questions like:

• Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? (38:4)
• Have you commanded the morning since your days began? (38:12)
• Have the gates of death been revealed to you? (38:17)
• Have you entered the storehouses of snow? (38:22)

And on and on the questions come. 

The answer to all of them is “No, Job has done, seen, knows none of these things… but God has done, seen and knows all these things.” In a comparison with God, Job scores zero.

But is God’s design to grind Job down further and humiliate him? No, absolutely not, but it is designed to humble him, to help him see himself rightly in comparison to God. And it works: “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth” (40:4); “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (42:6). And all this comes from seeing God and himself in right comparison: “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you” (42:5).

And so while he may not have got the answers he wanted, right comparison gave him something far better - God. A knowledge of God that stilled his heart and with it his questions. An experience of God that gave him an emotional stability and sense of peace that nothing else - perhaps not even answers - could.

The same can be true for us. When we face loss, like Job, we can question the goodness and justice of God. But as we compare our fickle emotions with Jesus’ great faithfulness; his selfless sacrifice with our self-concern, even, at times, our self-pity; his resurrection power with our frailty, we are both humbled and lifted up. We see him for who he is and ourselves for who we are and it does us good. He is infinitely greater yet stoops so low to save us. Every questioning heart needs that kind of comparison.

Having said that, I’d like to start further back, and with a statement that might surprise you. And that is, you will never know real joy until you have compared yourself to another. That Other being the Incomparable God.

In Psalm 40, David contemplates God’s work in his life. God has done things for David that puts a new song in his mouth (v3). As he ponders God pulling him out of a metaphorical pit, and setting his feet upon a metaphorical rock, a new melody begins to bubble up in David’s heart. Lyrics take form in his mind. His foot starts tapping to the beat and he finds himself singing a song neither he, nor anyone else, has sung before.

But he doesn’t stop there. He goes on to think about God’s deeds and thoughts, not just to himself, David, but to all of God’s people. And as he does he realises, ’None can compare with you’ (v5). There simply is no one else who acts towards and thinks about his people the way God does. 

What’s David doing? He’s comparing God to others: to himself and everyone else. And his conclusion? No one compares to God.

But what’s the result of making that comparison? Wonder! God’s deeds and thoughts are ‘wondrous’ (v5)! And as a result David feels the urge to draw others into his delight: ‘I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told’ (v5).

Silence can speak volumes, can’t it? And when our hearts are silent, when there’s no praise or proclamation bubbling up, it says something about the state of our hearts. And one of the things it says is, we’re not doing enough comparing… of God to ourselves and to everyone else. 

So, if your heart is dry and silent, begin the comparison game. Not you to others, but God to you and everyone else. Ponder how much greater, and wondrous, his deeds and thoughts are towards you than your own. Meditate on all he has done for you in Christ - tht the Son of God would lay down his life for you - and maybe your foot will start tapping with David’s and your tongue be loosed like his.

And returning from exile, the psalmist is asking God to do just that in his life and the life of the people.

But then he takes the metaphor further, to sowing and reaping and harvest: ‘Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!’ So, it’s not just the wilderness of the Negeb that can run with rivers of waters, the wilderness of our lives can run with rivers of tears. We weep over sin; over the hurts done to us and the hurts done by us to others. But just like streams of water precede the blooming of the desert garden, so streams of tears can precede a harvest of joy in our lives.

It was the same at the first Christmas. Herod, in his murderous desire to cling to power, massacred the innocents in Bethlehem, bringing numerous families down to the desert of grief. No wonder Matthew applies the words of Jeremiah to them: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children.” And yet, it was out of that wilderness of death and grief that Christ came.

But, the psalmist says, for life to come from tears, you’ve got to go out and sow. ‘He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.’ Allow self-pity to take root and you’ll become more and more housebound. You won’t go out, physically or emotionally. But through your tears, take the seed God has given you, go out to sow, and you will reap a harvest of joy. In your life and in the lives of those God allows you to sow into.

Those two comings are polar opposites: the first in humility, the second in glory. The first unnoticed, the second visible to the eyes of all. The first to save, the second to save and to judge.

And yet, if polar opposites, the doctrines of Christ’s two comings both have the power to encourage our hearts, and stimulate us to live lives pleasing to God. His first coming tells us God loves us so much that he sent his own Son for us. It tells us that at just the right moment God sent his Son to redeem us. It tells us there is a message - a gospel - of good news and peace for all people. And it tells us that to follow in Christ’s footsteps does not consist in promoting oneself but humbling oneself. 

But while the doctrine of Christ's second coming is frequently a cause for debate and division among Christians, that is not how the New Testament writers saw it! It too has the power to encourage and spur us on to greater sanctification.

James tells us that the fact of Christ’s return should encourage us to be patient. Patient with one another when we’re tempted to grumble against each other and patient and steadfast in suffering. Because, if the outcome is certain (and it is) we can… be patient! (James 5:7-11).

Paul says that the fact of Christ’s return is a reason for sober, thoughtful, self-reflective living. Others will be taken by surprise by the Lord’s return, but that doesn’t need to include us. As a result, as we allow God to sanctify us and make us more like Jesus, we can know he will both prepare us and keep us until Christ returns (1 Thess 5:1-8, 23-24; 1 Cor 1:7-8).

But it’s not just encouragement for godly living now - it’s also our hope for now. A present hope anchored in the certain future to come. It’s our assurance that all will be well,  that God will finally transform us to be like Christ (Phil 3:20). No wonder Paul calls Jesus’ return and revelation in glory our ‘blessed’ hope ( Titus 2:13). 

And there’s nothing divisive or debatable about that. 

That's instructive, because it tells us that the people of Israel had not stopped worshipping the LORD; they hadn't abandoned him for Baal. Instead, they worshipped Baal and the LORD.

And that's the thing about idols. They're not jealous gods like the LORD is jealous. They're happy to share you, provided they have a part of you. But when they do, your loyalities are divided. Like Israel, we can find ourselves limping between two different opinions: between love for Christ and love for money. Between the humility of Christ, and the desire for power and control over others. Between finding our worth and significance in Christ and finding it in career success. And we shuffle between the two - never quite settling on either side. We combine worship of God with worship of... idols.

It's why when the Risen Jesus addresses the church in Thyatira he criticises them for tolerating 'Jezebel' (Rev 2:20). Jezebel was, of course, the patroness of the prophets of Baal, the apologist for Baal worship in Israel in Elijah's time. But in Thyatira there's another woman - her name may not be literally 'Jezebel' but she's exerting the same kind of influence over God's people in Thyatira as the original Jezebel did in Israel. That it's ok to combine worship of God with worship of idols. You can be a Christian and engage in sexual immorality, or pagan worship - and business - practices.

But Jesus says, no you can't. It's one or the other. You can't go on limping between the two. If God is God, worship him. And he is. Get that right and the sex and business practices will fall into line.