“Come, let us praise the Lord! Let us sing for joy to God, who protects us! Let us come before him with thanksgiving and sing joyful songs of praise. For the Lord is a mighty God, a mighty king over all the gods. He rules over the whole earth, from the deepest caves to the highest hills. He rules over the sea, which he made; the land also, which he himself formed. Come, let us bow down and worship him; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! He is our God; we are the people he cares for, the flock for which he provides.” Psalm 95:1-7 GNT
Have you ever really considered God? Have you taken a moment to examine Him and then ponder your own life? If you have, then you understand how deeply humbling that is. This God that we call our God knows the smallest detail of our lives and yet chooses to be in fellowship with us. We have been invited to His table. His table! What is the right response to that reality? Is it to place demands as if I have control or power over what He will do, or would it be to remember with gratitude and praise that He doesn’t owe me anything, but I owe Him everything?
When I consider this, all of my preconceived ideas of what I think should happen quickly fade. My concerns for matters that are temporal are brought into perspective, and I am reminded that I am not God. He Is. I am limited. He is the limitless One. My “stuff” must bow to His Lordship.
Just for a moment reflect on this with me. Our God is uncontainable. He is the only source of true power, and He is above all demonstrations of power. Everything that you or I have ever looked at in our lives and said, “that is powerful”, those things are under Him. The power dam that releases immense supplies of energy and power are restricted and subject to the power of His Word. If He said to them, “stop producing” they could no longer supply. They can’t function without Him. Even the deepest places of the earth that we cannot see, that have yet to be discovered, unseen springs, resources yet to be tapped into, all of them are in His hands, and at His command. The largest mountain is far out of our reach, yet He cares for whatever grows on it.
Nothing, absolutely nothing is above His control. The waves perform and fulfill His Word. He is the Creator and Sustainer of them all. He owns them all. He holds the worlds together by the power of His Word. Yet, He knows me. He loves me.
The greatness of the unsearchable One is out of my reach, but I am never out of His. Never.
He is a great God, but not just any great god. He is our Great God. Not only is His greatness displayed, but in my life His grace has been released. His grace toward me is vast and transforming. This God of ours breaks off of my heart every sense of entitlement and arrogance. He flips my judgmental attitudes upside down and reminds me that His limitless love has searched me out. This undeserving heart has found a home and because of that I am free. The correct response to this Great God of ours is “come let us worship and bow down”. It is there I find, that humility and honour meet as I worship at His feet. How can anything but gratitude fill my heart?
Today, I am grateful that the One to whom everything must bow, calls me by name. I am thankful for the privilege of calling this God, my God. As I consider this, I am asking that any ungrateful attitudes in me, or any sense of entitlement be brought to the surface and bow before the presence of the One who is worthy.
Comments(3)
Sue Holmes says:
January 29, 2015 at 7:01 pmThese words from the song ‘Our Great God’ come to mind when reading this scripture, “Eternal God, unchanging, Mysterious and unknown, Your boundless love unfailing, In grace and mercy shown, … Lord, we are weak and frail. Helpless in the storm. Surround us with Your angels. Hold us in Your arms”
He is truly an amazing God. To think that He is my God is humbling. Mighty God! God over all gods! Ruler & maker of the earth! Maker of me! Maker of us! And still this scripture barely touches who He is. The Maker & Ruler of the Universe! The earth is His footstool! Creator & Saviour!
What is more amazing is that the psalmist goes on to say that “we are the people He cares for, the flock for which He provides”. Imagine how vast the universe is. Imagine how tiny you & I are in comparison. And then meditate on the fact that He cares for you and for me. Words from another (Todd Agnew) song comes to mind, “Its hard for me to believe I could be lovely in Your eyes, that Im really the one You want. Its hard for me to believe, You would want me by Your side, that Im really the one You want. … And, You love me, You love me. You love me still.”
I can honestly say that I don’t half of what that means … to know that He cares for me. Sure, I have the Sunday school stories drilled in since childhood. I can say the words, quote the scriptures but I’m sure that if I were to live another hundred years I wouldn’t exhaust what it means for my God to care for and provide for me. Knowing that the King of the universe has time to be interested in my small day-to-day stuff is difficult to comprehend and at the same time comforting and reassuring. If He can look down and see me in my filthy, unworthy state yet still say that He wanted me and has a place for me, I am filled with gratitude.
I thank God today for being the All-seeing, All-caring God who has a big enough heart to make room for me. I thank Him that I can have the reassurance that my prayers are heard … prayers for myself and for those I care about. I thank Him for the grace and mercy He has afforded for me. And, I ask that He continue to bring out any of the seeds of pride that linger and stand in the way of true gratitude.
Pat McRae says:
January 30, 2015 at 12:42 amDon’t you just love our loving Heavenly Father? 🙂 So often I hear a beautiful voice singing to our King and I wish I could sing like that, or maybe you are one of the blessed ones with a voice of an angel. I am not, so I love that my Daddy says “It’s OK you make a joyful noise to Me I will accept it as a sweet sacrifice just as I accept the sweet angelic voices.
I love coming into His presence with my heart so full of thanksgiving it could burst and a joyful noise coming out of my mouth that declares He is my all and all. What an awesome privilege I have to be able to do this. Some of my brothers and sisters around the world have to hide their faith, love, and thanksgiving for a secret place. And to think worship leaders have to beg people to open their mouths to praise the King of kings! He is worthy to be praised for Who He is not because we hope it puts Him in a good mood and He might give us something. The praise of our awesome God with words that celebrate His greatness, His goodness, His love comes so much easier for my brothers and sisters here in Saint Vincent then they do for me. It has never been something that I did except in song to Him. I have always just come to Him, asked, and thanked Him and left. I love hearing others praise Him and if I love it, I can only imagine the smile it must put on His face 🙂
There is icing for this cake today in verse six and I am starting to love doing it! Kneeling and bowing down before Him in pure worship is such a lift up in the spiritual realm. Many religions bow with their faces to the ground to stone images that could not touch them or hear them and what do we doin the presence of our Mighty God who does touch our hearts and hear our cries? We sit down, talk to our neighbour, go to the bathroom, go get a drink, really! How Rude!
Today I am thankful I live in a country where I can worship the one true God in total freedom. And that I worship a God Who sees the heart behind the joyful noise, the funny little dance step,the smile, the hands lifted high and knows that it is all for Him from a heart of love. Oh I am so blessed 🙂
Susan Craig says:
February 7, 2015 at 2:52 amThankful that our God is large and He is in charge.