For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
Psalm 96:4
I had the privilege of meeting John Calipari, basketball coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, several years ago. I heard he was dropping by his sister’s business as a promotional event, so I went by to talk with him and get a couple of autographs for friends. On television, Coach Cal is larger than life. Some may say he is one of the greatest college basketball coaches of our time. Nevertheless, he popped into the business, was impersonal, and didn’t seem to have time for any conversation. This larger-than-life figure I placed on a pedestal for so many years turned out to be just like me. There was nothing noteworthy or special about his interactions with the group of people who came by to see him. And when his 30 minutes were up, he was out of there.
I don’t say any of this to disparage Coach Cal. He is a phenomenal coach for sure. But, I realized then that putting people on pedestals built by men is a doomed exercise. The only One worthy of the kind of praise I tried to show the coach is the Lord. Great is the Lord
Great is the Lord
In many ways, it is about perspective. What comes to your mind when you think of the Lord? Benevolence? Care? Compassion? Anger? Resentment? Fear? Ruler? I’m sure you could think of others. But our perspective, when it comes to the Lord, should be that He is amazing. Great is a word that means remarkable. Our Lord should be the priority in our lives because He is great.
You may be married and have a great spouse, but your spouse doesn’t compare to our Lord’s greatness. You may own one of the fastest cars in the world, but it does not compare to the greatness of our Lord. You may have an immaculate house with perfectly manicured lawns, but it does not even compare to our Lord’s greatness.
The Lord is so amazing that I cannot even explain it to you. There are not enough words in the English language to adequately describe the greatness of our Lord. Allow your imagination to wander and consider the wonder of our Lord today. What things has He done in your life that you find remarkable and great? I would guess countless notebooks could not hold all the great things the Lord has done for you.
Greatly to be praised
Because He is great, it is only reasonable that we praise Him. I know you have your own way to do this, but we sometimes forget to do it in our busy and congested lives. Do we even have time to praise the Lord? We hear it from stages in churches all the time. Maybe so much that we become numb and insensitive to our responsibility to praise the Lord. And when I say responsibility, I emphasize response(ibility). Our response to a great Lord is to worship Him greatly.
That is the only response we can give Him. Great praise. Can you honestly say you’ve done that? Think about this week. Have you taken the time to greatly praise the Lord because He is great and deserves our praise? We should exclaim, proclaim, thank, acknowledge, admire, and worship our Lord. He deserves great praise because He is great.
Feared above all gods
How great is our Lord? He is greater than any other gods we might worship. All other gods in the universe could not begin to come close to the majesty, glory, and greatness of our Lord. He placed us in this world to enjoy His creation and to share His good news with everyone. Fear means to admire greatly or to inspire awe. Does the Lord inspire awe in your life?
We should fear no sun god because He isn’t real. The god of agriculture? Not real. The god of the stars and moon? Not real. The TRUE AND LIVING LORD? HE’S REAL. He is excellent, and we should worship Him greatly.
It is all about perspective. I looked at Coach Cal and was in awe at the things he had done, but nothing compares to the love, compassion, and care that our Lord gives.
Nothing compares…