December 10 – No God Besides Our God

“For this reason You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.” -  2 Samuel 7:22 (NASB)

 David was first a giant killer but he was also God’s anointed to be King of Israel after the death of Saul. As king, David desired and planned to build a house for the Lord in Jerusalem where the people would worship and observe requirements given in the Law of Moses. God had other plans. Today’s verse comes from a prayer David offered after the Lord revealed that a permanent temple would be built by the son who succeeds David to the throne. David accepted what the Lord God had revealed to him. The prayer includes affirmations regarding the attributes of God. David recognized God as doing a great thing in revealing His plans. David declares of God, “You are great;” “there is none like You;” and “there is no God besides You.”  David knew what the Law taught and he believed the Word of God. Some today want to change the meanings of God’s Word. Some today claim culture and time have changed so what God said to David does not apply to us today. But God’s Word has never changed. God’s exact Word is the same today as the day He spoke to David.

 

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February 6 – Worshiping God Alone

“Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty,” – Psalm 104:1 (NASB)

Taking a moment today to think about and ponder on the greatness of our LORD God. To bless the Lord is to praise God for all that he has done. The creator of all is God and He is greater than His creation. This is why the Creator is to be worshiped, not the creation. We might think of the things in our lives that draw us away from focusing on God’s greatness. The first two Commandments make it very clear that God was not to be supplanted in our lives by anything we would adore more than Him. “No other gods before Me.”  There is to be no crafting of idols for ourselves. No serving anything or anyone or worshiping the same other than the LORD God. (Exodus 20:3-5) The manner or style of worship appropriate to only one Lord forbids us of any attempt to represent or capture His essence by use of anything He has made. Total condemnation of artistic expression was NOT the issue; but absolute denunciation of idolatry and false worship was the issue. Our LORD God is greater than we can conceive and He rightly deserves to command us to worship only Him. 

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February 2 – When Great is Greater

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” – Psalm 145:2 (ESV)

Who or what is truly GREAT in your personal world? Honestly, we throw that word around pretty freely and not without reason because anything that astounds us or we find awesome we easily label as great. We found at least 16 different definitions or meanings of the word ‘great’ in the dictionary. Our verse for today refers to the Lord’s greatness as “unsearchable.” This is because God is infinite. In this Psalm God’s divine infinity is presented. When we speak of our Lord God’s infinity, what we are really saying is that God has no limits. God’s understanding and knowledge has no boundaries⸺He is omniscient. His spatial presence  is everywhere⸺He is omnipresent. God has no beginning or end and does not experience the passing of time⸺He is eternally present. God can and will accomplish all that He wills⸺He is omnipotent.  Nothing limits God in anything that He is or does. God’s infinity is hard to grasp because we live in a world that has limits on our power, time, location, knowledge and much more. So we know and believe that His goodness and love are perfect and unlimited⸺He is omnibenevolent. This is why God’s greatness is infinitely unsearchable. 

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December 5 – Knowing God is Great

“But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!”” Psalm 40:16 (ESV)

 

“The Greatest of All Time” or “The Great _______,” fill the blank. Being great at anything seems to be a driving passion of many people. Not all who are declared to be Great or the Greatest actually are.  But there is one who is truly Great and is worthy of calling him Magnificent. So we are called, if we seek God and love the salvation God has provided for us we should shout, “The LORD be magnified!”  God wants all of us who follow Him to find real joy in doing so and real joy in living for Him. He wants the Christian life to be a life full of true joy. He wants us to be satisfied in Him so much that we are also satisfied in our life. Our verse also reminds us when we are happy in living for the Lord, it results in much praise to God. When we enjoy the Christian life we will want to exalt the Lord. We will want that His name receives much glory and praise. Today, let's seek Him and rejoice and be glad in Him.  Let's also say with the Psalmist, “GREAT IS THE LORD!”

 

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July 23 – Even the Little Is Great

“Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean.”… – 2 Kings 5:10 (ESV)

In the time of ancient Israel, the prophet Elisha served as the voice of God to the people. In this historical account, Naaman, a man of high standing and commander of the army of the king of ancient Syria was a leper. Hearing of God’s prophet Elisha, Naaman seeks for him and for healing. Elisha does not even exit his house to speak with Naaman but sends a message that sounds absurd to Naaman. Pride stood in his way of obedience to what God had instructed through Elisha. At first offended, Naaman rejects the solution. It is beneath him to obey the instructions. But when convinced by his servants, Naaman gives it a try and dipping himself seven time in the Jordan River, he is healed instantly. God offers no insignificant promises of His grace – every promise from Him is significant and great. God instructs us now through His Word, the Bible and we face the same opportunity of blessings through obedience, or negative consequences through neglecting His promises. Naaman learned his lesson that God works through small promises as well as great promises. Every promise of God is a great promise for us.  

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July 5 – Greatest of the Greatest

“Behold, God is great, and we know him not; the number of his years is unsearchable.” – Job 36:26  (ESV)

God is the source of all good things in our lives. Any strength or skill, intelligence or beauty that we may have comes to us from God. When measured on a scale of excellence, God is greater beyond the very most excellent. God is the most important person who exists and as creator, all things were made by Him. We who believe in Him have a personal knowledge of God in salvation, the fullness of His glory is beyond human comprehension; He is beyond our ability to even fathom what He looks like. God’s existence is countless and unending while we have the few years God gives to us here. Job’s friend Elihu spoke words above to Job. Job’s friends failed badly trying to reason God’s intentions for the suffering He had allowed. Our promise is that God is so very high and exalted that He is beyond us. Trying to reason God out is useless. Trying to outthink God’s ways and purposes is a fool’s errand. It is nonsense to come to conclusions about God apart from His Word by using our puny reasoning ability. What can we do? We can by faith, believe in God’s Word.

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July 26 – Filled with Laughter

“Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations,  “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad.”  Psalm 126:2-3 (ESV)

Our God is Good and benevolent to us. According to His promises, He has done and will do for us great things. The  words of our verses are from a song which the people of Israel sang when the Lord brought them back from a period of enforced exile. God had shown His love and His faithfulness to His people so that others took note of what He had done.  They acknowledged God’s hand in their restoration and return to the land and they gave God credit for it. God’s people recognized what God had done for them and they rejoiced greatly. It was a response that brought joyous laughter which filled their mouths.  They couldn't stop from talking about it. How about us today?  Has not God done great things for us also? We know that He has because He has promised to and because He has told us that He does. Should not the very thought of God’s goodness to us stir our hearts to praise Him? We might respond and  be overflowing with joy and our reaction will be a testimony to others of God’s goodness. 

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April 27 – Unsearchable

“Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.”  - Psalm 145:2-3 (ESV)

When we read in Scripture words such as these in today’s selected verse, we can know for certain that what we read is a promise from God.  Our LORD is so great he is beyond measure and beyond our full comprehension.  We do not need to be further convinced by evidence for this promise is given to us here as a declaration by the psalmist David. If we tried to search out the depths or extent of the LORD’s greatness, we would not be able to exhaust the resources.  His greatness is unsearchable.  So, our response can only be to praise God and give Him the glory His greatness deserves.  We can do this every day.  We should say like the psalmist that we will bless and praise God’s name every day forever and ever.  Let’s do so today, right now.  Give God our sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise as we affirm His greatness.  

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July 10 – Eyes Open

“O great and mighty God. The Lord of hosts is His name; great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds;”  Jeremiah 32:18b-19 (NASB)

We are thankful that the Bible includes some great expressions of prayer.  Today we have chosen words from a prayer recorded by the prophet Jeremiah which he had prayed in worship to God.  God had just revealed to the prophet Jeremiah that He would do for His people, something that seemed impossible at the time.  Jeremiah saw again what a great God he had and it stirred him to pray and praise God in worship.  Jeremiah's God is our God.  We too can call Him the Lord Almighty because that's what He is.  He has great plans and great purposes for each of us just as He had for His people then.  And, He shows us His greatness as He carries out His great plans.  Let's trust Him and let allow Him to carry out His purposes for each of us.  Let's join with Jeremiah in his words of praise to our great and mighty God. Be thankful today for the promise that God's eyes are open to all our ways.

May 23 – None Like Him

“Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God?” Psalm 77:13 (NASB)
“Your way was in the sea And Your paths in the mighty waters, And Your footprints may not be known.”  Psalm 77:19 (NASB)

The writer of these words was thinking of how God had opened a way for His people through the water. He had made a way through the Red Sea and also through the Jordan River forty years later. God had done it but He was invisible. He went ahead of the people but his footprints were not seen, as our verse says.  This is a reminder for us of how God helps us. He opens the way for us through the obstacles that we encounter in life.  Although we don't see Him, He is there with us. When we see what God does for us let's not forget to thank Him for His faithfulness and love. Let's tell him just as the psalmist does in these verses how great He is. We may come upon something that seems uncrossable or insurmountable but we can trust in the promises of our God and in His greatness. There is none like our God for He is the only true God.  

August 18

“How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.” 2 Samuel 7:22 (NIV)

God had just sent a special message to King David through the prophet Nathan. God had told David that it would be his son who would build the temple, not David himself. But God had also given David some very special promises about his descendants and about God’s plans for them. Although David had hoped and planned to build a temple for God, after getting these messages from God, his heart was full of praise to God, and expressed it in this verse. You and I can experience the same joy and same exultation as David did. God has not changed. He is as great today and we can praise Him, too. 

August 9

“How great are your works, Lord, how profound your thoughts!” Psalm 92:5 (NIV)

This is, of course, an expression of praise to God for His great works and His profound thoughts. People might observe what God does, but how can they know His thoughts? The subtitle of Psalm 92 indicates that it is a song to be sun on the Sabbath. When it was sung, then, it was at a time when the Scriptures were read. That would be how they became aware of how great God’s thoughts were. That’s how God has revealed to us what His thoughts are – through the Scriptures – God’s Word. So when we hear God’s Word, let us pay attention so as to know His thoughts.