Greatness

What defines greatness? Tony the Tiger taught us how to say it when he described his breakfast cereal.  Just when we think we’ve experienced the greatest of something, you can count on something greater to come along!  Great seems to be only a temporary thing!

 

Psalm 104 begins this way: “Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great!” (V.1). I can think of some truly great places I've seen: the Caribbean Sea from a Mayan cliff, Mar Saba monastery from a Judean hill, the Sea of Galilee from Mount Beatitudes, the Mediterranean Sea as I was seated in Caesarea’s amphitheater, a field of beautiful green winter wheat from my front porch swing.  All these stir my heart, but none like the proclaimed and evident Greatness of our God.  This word "great," an adjective in the English language, describes everything from well water to a person's life; it is quite different in the Hebrew language.  The Hebrew word for “great” is "gadal," a verb meaning "to grow up, to become great."  Now, how can God possibly become any greater?  He's already The Great-of-all-greats! The psalmist is saying to God -- the more I see of You and of Your works the more incredibly great and praiseworthy You become!  There is tremendous capacity for God to become greater and greater as He reveals Himself in our lives, in our circumstances, in our relationship with Him! There’s actually no limit to the magnitude (greatness) with which we are able to see in The Father -- His worth and magnificence is ever-increasing with no end in sight! That field of winter wheat will soon begin to brown and will be cut down – right now, it's as great as it's gonna be.  How amazing is our God's Greatness, never ending nor failing to become greater and greater!  Yes, indeed, Great is the LORD!