Not long ago, I went through two or three weeks of difficulty sleeping. One evening, in the closet where I prepare for bed, I found a small placard hanging in a very obvious place, “Don’t Count Sheep; Talk to the Shepherd.” That’s SO, Jerry.” Jerry is my wife, nothing subtle about her ways of communication. I know her so well that she often does things to which I respond, “That’s so Jerry.” Recently, she made her hat for our Easter Parade out of the flowers she grew in the garden on our deck.
There are some people we know so well that when they do things that reflect something distinctive about them, we say, “That’s SO________” and we name them.
We often say that, or it registers in our minds, when we are reading Scripture, “That’s so God.” It is so God to choose a ninety-plus year old childless couple, Abraham and Sarah, to have a child that is the beginning of a new entire nation in relation to God.
It is so God to pick a stuttering, stammering shepherd, Moses, who had already made himself a special enemy of the pharaoh, to send back to Egypt to free slaves from the most powerful nation on earth.
It is so God to order Joshua to command an unarmed army to march about Jericho, playing music and yelling, to vanquish enemy forces.
It is so God to choose Rahab, the prostitute, to be a sterling example of bravery and obedience for Israel in a time of greatest threat.
It is so God to choose David, a teen-aged dreamer/poet, a shepherd, who had never done more than move sheep around from field to field, to establish a unique royal household to change Israel’s history.
It is so God, when looking for a powerful, prophetic voice, to choose Jonah, the guy who only takes the job when it’s a choice between God’s plans and the inside of the belly of a whale.
Now consider this. The Bible says we humans have no equal in all creation; we are so like God. Of all living creatures, we are the only ones invited to talk to and work with God. The Psalmist asked, “what is man that you are mindful of him” and reflected on his question, “you made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor” (Psalm. 8:4-5).
Move from Scripture to now and you. Think about something you might have done recently that a friend would say, “That’s so __(your name)___!” Are you pleased that action describes who you are? Is there at least a hint in your attitudes and actions that you are so like God as we see God in Jesus Christ?