Great is the Lord

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. Ps. 145:3

Why are we so often constrained in our praise? Is it not because we fail to see and feel properly the reality that the Lord, the God who has revealed himself in Israel's history and Israel's Scripture and Israel's Messiah, is indeed great? Is it not because we so often put upon the Lord our own limitations and judge him in light of our own finitude? Certainly, as this verse suggests, our praise will be according to the value we place upon God and that we will only praise him greatly when we see him to be great. Here we may judge our view of God by the level of our worship. Where worship is wanting, you may be sure that there is a correspondingly small view of God.

The Lord is great in himself, in all his attributes, as omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, as holy, just, and good. The Lord is great in his acts, as the God who saves through his Son Jesus Christ, as the God whose providence extends down to the smallest particle and up to the expanse of far flung galaxies. The Lord is great in his words, as the God who never lies, and whose promises can always be trusted.

Moreover, "his greatness is unsearchable," which means that we will never come to the end of a discovery of God's might and majesty. And this means that the saint, who walks with God and holds fellowship with him, will never come to the end of finding new reasons for praise.

This day, let us ask the Lord to expand the smallness of our souls so that we are able, by his grace, to see more clearly and more fully the glories of his name. And let our praise correspond to the new vistas of greatness that we behold.