God brings similarity

My wife and I were closing a meeting that we had with a man who has known the Lord for a long time and, as he prayed, he thanked God for the times that He "brings similarity". The context that framed this was one where he gave a devotional to a group of individuals and God used that teaching in his life that very day. The similarity between the Bible passage that he focused his attention on and the circumstances that God brought to him that day struck him (as it has with me sometimes) and it overflowed into praise to God. I told him that I was going to think about God and how He brings similarity to me and this post is a first effort on that.

I have been listening to a series of lectures on the history of Christian apologetics given by Dr. John Frame from Reformed Theological Seminary. An important apologist that he mentioned in his course is Joseph Butler who did battle with the deists of his day. Butler deduced that there was a large amount of that which is revealed in the Bible (special revelation) that is analogous to what goes on in the natural world (general revelation). From there he drew conclusions about the character, nature (if you can call it that) and workings of God. Regardless of how right Butler was to do that or how influential he was in his field I couldn't help but see this analogy as a way that God brings similarity.

It would be strange indeed if God's special revelation (found in the Bible) and general revelation (found in nature) would be diametrically opposed. Stemming from the same source we could naturally conclude that they would be quite a bit like each other. Even after the introduction of sin into His perfect creation there remains enough here for us to see the similarities. Christ certainly did as he taught about his Father's kingdom in the parables.

I am sure that this is not the end of the similarity that God brings. But I'll save all of that for another day and after I have given this some more thought.