The God who does wonders

Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen. Psalm 72:18-19

We are told in the next and last verse of this psalm that this was the last recorded psalm and prayer of David the King of Israel. David ended his reign, his ministry, his life, with a desire for the glory of the Lord to fill the earth so that the God of wonders might be known and worshiped by all. But this was not just a postscript to his life; in a real sense it was the heartbeat behind all that he did. You see this in all his psalms; there is a constancy in his desire for God to be glorified and known.

May such a desire be our desire. May such a heartbeat animate our lives as well. May we live, not for our glory nor for our kingdoms nor for our advantage, but for God's. May the Lord's prayer be our prayer: "Thy kingdom come."

But what was behind his religious fervency? It was the conviction that the Lord, the God of Israel "only doeth wondrous things." The word "only" here points to the holiness, the transcendence, the uniqueness, of God. There is no one like God. There is no one who shares the glory of God. There is no one who does wondrous things like God. Everything else is infinitely less than him. And so to fix our attention on anything else is a tragic misplacing of our affections. To seek the glory of ourselves or anything else is folly.

Indeed, may the Lord be glorified. May he be glorified in our lives, in our families, and in our church. For he alone does wondrous things.