I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. 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 145:1-3 ESV
Psalm 145
David loved God. In fact, he talked about Him and to Him constantly. God seemed to be on David's mind a lot. Maybe it was because he knew just how much he needed God. He seemed to have a firm grasp on the reality of his dependence upon God – for everything. God had chosen him while he was just a shepherd boy and transformed him into the king of Israel. God had given David victory over Goliath, the Philistines, Saul and a host of other enemies. God had spared David from the full ramifications of his own sin with Bathsheba and allowed him to continue his reign as king. David had much to be grateful for and he constantly praised God for who He was and for all He had done. David extolled God. He lifted Him up, exalted Him and gave Him the glory and honor due Him. He didn't treat God flippantly or casually. David refused to see God as common place or take Him for granted. In David's estimation, God was great and greatly to be praised. As a matter of fact, God's greatness was unsearchable. In other words, you could never plumb the depths of His greatness. Just when you think you know how great God is, He surprises you. God's greatness isn't limited or exhaustible. He doesn't run out of wonders or miracles to perform – a fact that David had experienced personally, time and time again.
Here was David the king of Israel acknowledging Yahweh as his God and as his King. David would not have used the term “king” lightly. He was a king himself and he knew well the implications of that title. God was sovereign. He was the ruler over everyone and everything, including David himself. God was not just a deity to be worshiped, but a King to be honored and obeyed. God's word was final. His majesty was incomparable. There was no other king who could compare to Him, including David. God was great and He deserved David's praise, and David was more than happy to give it – each and every day of his life.
But what about us? Do we find God great and greatly to be praised? Is He worthy of our adoration, honor and daily praise? Do we think enough of Him or about Him that it results in us telling Him how much we love Him? Sometimes our problem is that we don't give God enough thought. We allow our minds to be occupied with thoughts of anything and everything but God, including ourselves. We can end up praising all kinds of things but God. But David would remind us that God alone is worthy of our praise. He would encourage us to recognize and appropriately respond to the greatness of God. And he would have us see God as not only as a great God, but as our King. Recognition of God's sovereignty and rule over our lives includes submission to His will for our lives. It entails giving up our rights for His righteous rule over every area of our lives. David was king, but he knew that his reign was subject to God's. Any authority he enjoyed was God-ordained and could be removed by God at His discretion. David's greatness was solely due to God's goodness and graciousness. God had made him king. God had blessed his kingship. God had given him victory over his enemies. God had made him powerful. So God was worthy of honor and praise. Our failure to recognize God's greatness can result in a tendency toward self-exaltation. We can begin to believe that we are responsible for our own achievements. We can end up taking credit for who we are and all that we have done. But an awareness of God's greatness keeps us from becoming enamored with our own significance. All that we have and all that we are we owe to Him. He alone gives life and breath. He alone sustains and blesses. He alone does mighty deeds. He alone is worthy to be praised. But the truth is, we only praise that for which we are grateful and that holds our affections. So we praise our health, our homes, our jobs, our material possessions, our family and our own accomplishments – forgetting that we owe it all to God. He is great and greatly to be praised. He is our God and King. Every day we wake up, we should offer Him the praise, honor and gratitude He so richly deserves. And no matter how often we praise Him, we will never run out praiseworthy things for which to honor Him. Because His greatness is unsearchable.