Awesome in Praises and How the Holy One Differs from Flesh and Blood

Another interpretation of "awesome in praises" (Exodus 15:11): In the way of flesh and blood, a person's awe falls more upon those who are far from him than upon those who are near. But the measure of the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so. Rather His awe rests upon those who are near Him more than upon those who are far, as it is said, "Through those near to Me I will be sanctified" (Leviticus 10:3), and it is written, "And around Him it storms mightily" (Psalms 50:3); and it says, "A God dreaded in the great council of the holy ones"; and it says, "O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty like You, O LORD?" (Psalms 89:9). The measure of flesh and blood: a hired worker labors for the householder, plowing with him and sowing with him, weeding with him and hoeing with him, and the master gives him a single coin and he goes off. But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so. Rather, one who longs for children, He gives them to him, as it is said, "Behold, children are the LORD's inheritance" (Psalms 127:3). One who longs for wisdom, He gives it to him, as it is written, "For the LORD gives wisdom" (Proverbs 2:6). One who longs for possessions, He gives them to him, as it is said, "Both riches and honor come from before You" (1 Chronicles 29:12). The measure of flesh and blood: when a man builds, he builds the lower story first and only afterward builds the upper. But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so; He created the upper realm first and afterward the lower, as it is said, "In the beginning God created" (Genesis 1:1). The measure of flesh and blood: when one roofs a house he roofs with wood and stones and earth, but surely not with water. But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so; He roofed His world with water, as it is said, "He who roofs His upper chambers with water" (Psalms 104:3). The measure of flesh and blood: a man cannot fashion a form in water, but the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so; He fashions a form in water, as it is said, "Let the waters swarm" (Genesis 1:20). The measure of flesh and blood cannot fashion a form in earth, but the Holy One, blessed be He, fashions a form in earth, as it is said, "When I was made in secret, embroidered in the depths of the earth" (Psalms 139:15). The measure of flesh and blood: when one comes to fashion a form, he begins at its head or at one of its sides and only afterward completes it; but the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so; He fashions the whole form at once, as it is said, "For He is the Fashioner of all" (Jeremiah 10:16), and it says, "There is no rock [tzur] like our God" (1 Samuel 2:2) [read it: there is no fashioner (tzayyar) like our God]. Flesh and blood goes to a maker of images and says to him, "Make me my father's likeness," and the maker says, "Let your father come and stand before me, or bring me his portrait, and I will make his likeness for him." But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so; rather He gives a man a son from a drop of water, and the son resembles the likeness of his father.