Originally posted: 12/20/2020
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness, (150:2).
We really can’t praise Him enough. We can’t praise Him sufficiently. We can’t praise Him adequately. We just can’t. For His Greatness is Excellent and surpasses anything we can possibly express. But we can certainly tune our hearts to ponder and meditate on His Excellent Greatness; and that would be the best place to start.
Today, I was struck with the effect that praising Him has… on us. He is so worthy of praise, and that in itself should be our only motivation. But when we praise Him, something happens in us. Much of today’s reading depicts the outcome in God’s people whose focus is rightly tuned to the only One Who is worthy to be celebrated, adored, and acclaimed.
It’s far too easy to drift away from praise and turn our attention to the matters of this world, especially in our current climate of unrest and uncertainty about what may lie ahead. And while we don’t know what tomorrow holds, we do know the One Who holds tomorrow.
Today, let’s set our minds to think on His Excellent Greatness; and as we do, let’s be ready for the overflow of unbridled praise that is sure to shape and transform our outlook for the future.
Consider His Excellent Greatness
From Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance:
Excellent, also translated: surpassing (NIV), abundant (HCSB), unequaled (NLT), supreme (GNT)): “7230. רֹב rōḇ: A masculine noun indicating a large number, a great number, an abundance.”
Greatness: 1433. גֹּדֶל gōḏel: A masculine noun indicating majesty or greatness. It is used to describe anything large… in a figurative sense, God’s grace (Num. 14:19) or greatness through His mighty acts (Deut. 3:24) and power (Ps. 79:11). The psalmist calls God’s greatness excellent (nasb, kjv) or surpassing (niv) (Ps. 150:2, literally, abundant).
- Praise His Excellent Greatness that reveals His power, glory, victory, majesty, and dominion.
- Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. 12 Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. 13 Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name, (1 Chronicles 29:11-13).
- Praise His Excellent Greatness that preserves His covenant and lovingkindness.
- I said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,” (Nehemiah 1:5).
- Praise His Excellent Greatness that is feared above all gods.
- For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;
He is to be feared above all gods, (Psalm 96:4).
- For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised;
- Praise His Excellent Greatness that exalts His lovingkindness and His truth.
- For Your lovingkindness is great above the heavens,
And Your truth reaches to the skies, (Psalm 108:4).
- For Your lovingkindness is great above the heavens,
- Praise His Excellent Greatness that knows and sustains His creation.
- Lift up your eyes on high
And see who has created these stars,
The One who leads forth their host by number,
He calls them all by name;
Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,
Not one of them is missing, (Isaiah 40:26).
- Lift up your eyes on high
- Praise His Excellent Greatness that is unmatched in power.
- Ah Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You, (Jeremiah 32:17).
- Praise His Excellent Greatness that gives us His abundance of grace, righteousness, and life.
- The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. 17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ, (Romans 5:16-17).
- Praise His Excellent Greatness that is rich in His mercy and love.
- But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (Ephesians 2:4-5).
- Praise His Excellent Greatness that is able to do far more abundantly beyond anything we can imagine.
- Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, (Ephesians 3:20).
- Praise His Excellent Greatness and mercy that causes us to be born again to a living hope.
- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Peter 1:3).
How do we respond to His Excellent Greatness?
Oh how Great He is; how Excellent He is. His majesty so abundant, so supreme that nothing can compare. His Greatness so Excellent, superior to anything in all of the universe.
And the fact that He takes pleasure in us. Oh, how can we even catch our breath?
For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;
He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation, (149:4).
He has promised to beautify the afflicted ones with His salvation. And the fact is, every human ever born is greatly afflicted, with a sin nature.
But, when we realize the devastating reality of our affliction that is beyond our ability to remedy, and when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, His Excellent Greatness performs the most miraculous of all miracles; beautifying us with salvation and presenting us as His own before the Father, now holy and blameless and beyond reproach.
And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach, (Colossians 1:21-22).
After thinking on the magnificence of His Excellent Greatness, and after considering the blessings and privileges we receive from His Excellent Greatness, and after we catch our breath, how can do anything but praise Him?
Today, and every day, wherever we are, with all that we have, with all that we are, let us praise Him for His Excellent Greatness!
Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
2 Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
3 Praise Him with trumpet sound;
Praise Him with harp and lyre.
4 Praise Him with timbrel and dancing;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
5 Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord! (Psalm 150).