The God Who Acts

Read Psalm 145:3-7

3           Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
                 his greatness no one can fathom.
4           One generation commends your works to another;
                 they tell of your mighty acts.
5           They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
                 and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
6           They tell of the power of your awesome works—
                 and I will proclaim your great deeds.
7           They celebrate your abundant goodness
                 and joyfully sing of your righteousness.(NIV)

How do we know God is great? It seems from our text that we know it by looking at his mighty works in history. The psalmist is not going to give us a philosophical lecture on the attributes of God. He is not going to define God in some abstract way. He is a God who acts and thus can be known by his actions.

His actions are recorded in the history related in the Scriptures. The people of God often reverted to remembering the mighty deeds of the exodus times to assure themselves they worshipped a great God. And we, who have a wider scope of history, can see God in action through Jesus and the powerful ministry of the early church.

But we also know his greatness by looking at our own personal histories. True, none of us has a record of complete victories and everyday spectacular miracles, but if we look hard enough and wisely enough we can see God at work in so many ways in our own histories.

Thanksgiving and corporate worship are vital in helping us connect with the greatness of God both in the broad and narrow historical context. We come to believe that our God is not too small so as to leave us to face life alone, or so as to be beaten by our own life situations.

When life seems to overwhelm us, never forget to remember that God is great. And never forget to remember that we know that not by philosophy but by history.

Blessings
David Reay