Great Praise for a Great God
by an Old Disciple
When I used to mark my Bibles, each time I would start through a new one, I would put in the margin next to Psalm 145, “Our Great God.” David wrote in this Psalm “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.” He goes on to say, “...His greatness is unsearchable.” He also tells us, “...I will declare thy greatness" and adds, “...The Lord is..of great mercy.”
Where is this great praise for our great God? We have lost the awesomeness of God. Most use that word for everything but God. I have observed very few Christians contemplate the greatness of God. We seem to be too busy thinking of ourselves and others to work God into our thoughts.
Great praise makes great problems pygmies. When praise fills our lives, power to overcome enters them. When Paul and Silas began to Praise God impossible things started happening.
A great God inspires great praise. Our trouble is that we have a little god, and, as a result, there is nothing wonderful or sublime about this “miniature” god of ours.
I believe worship is a direct result of praise, and until we get back to greatly praising our great God, there will be no desire to worship. “I will praise thee with my whole heart…I will worship...” (Psalm. 138:1-2)
I end with this illustration I had in one of my old sermons: Jean-Baptiste Massillon was Born in 1663. He was appointed the Court Chaplain to King Louis XIV around 1699. The king said of him, "I have heard many great orators ... and have been highly pleased with them; but whenever I hear you, I go away displeased with myself, for I see my own character."
Louis XIV had the longest reign of any French king — 72 years. He had the most magnificent, extravagant court in all Europe, and planned his own funeral to be just as spectacular. The King instructed Massillon that upon his death he was to lie in state in a golden coffin at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. He further instructed that at his funeral service the entire cathedral was to be completely dark, lit dimly by only one candle positioned above the coffin so that all would be awed by the late king's presence, even in death.
When Louis died, Massillon did exactly as the King had instructed. At the funeral thousands waited in hushed silence as they peered at the exquisite casket that held the mortal remains of their monarch, illuminated by a single flickering candle. But as he began his funeral oration, and to the surprise of all, Massillon slowly reached down and snuffed out the candle representing the late king's greatness. Then in the darkness he proclaimed to all: "Only God is Great!"
You can support us here, by using this address, diclvsal61[at]gmail[dot]com.
If you’d like the Biblical insight to the issues of our day my son Andrew’s link is here.
Very true and edifying.