Page 2 - The Greatness of Your God - May 2018 - Truth & Tidings
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vancy to, meaning for, and application to   ing of the Lord (40:3) so that the “glory of
          our daily lives. David and Isaiah each had   the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
          remarkable experiences with God in their   see it together” (40:5, KJV).
          lives, and from those experiences, devel­  We will focus our attention on Isaiah
          oped a unique appreciation for the mind   40, but the subsequent chapters contain
          and ways of God which will instruct us.   one of the most thorough and extraordi­

          Psalmist’s view of God              nary presentations of God’s greatness in all
                                              of Scripture. We live in a day where God is
             David, as the primary writer of the   mocked and derided, and in an environ­
          Psalms, discovered the sovereignty of God   ment of political, social, and religious tur­
          in his life and constantly wrote about it. In   moil, thus it is imperative we know by ex­
          every situation, he viewed his life consider­  perience the God Who Isaiah presents, a
          ing the providential hand of God. David
          uses 24 different titles for God in the   God deeply interested in the present­day
          Psalms, and describes God in 33 ways.   lives of His people and their future.
          Psalm 68 is probably the most remarkable   In chapters 40­66, Isaiah presents one
          of them, as he uses eight different titles,   overarching truth, namely, that God has
          with an extraordinary set of metaphors,   not surrendered His sovereignty, nor is this
          causing him to exclaim in closing “Blessed   world, despite its current disorderly state,
          be God” (Psa 68:35, KJV).           going to be left in total chaos (40:10, 21­
             The Psalms are divided into five books   24). He presents the smallness of nations
          and the doxologies which end each of the   against the backdrop of God’s greatness:
          books illustrate David’s awareness of the   “They are like a drop of water from a buck­
          greatness of God. In Psalm 41:13; God’s   et,” and regarded “as speck of dust on the
          eternal nature is acclaimed. “Blessed be the   scales” (40:15). The hand of God has been
          Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to   seen in all His actions throughout history.
          everlasting. Amen, and Amen.” The second   “I act and who can reverse it”(43:12­13,
          book closes with praise to the God of Israel,   NIV)? One day the proud and the mighty
          “Who only doeth wondrous things”    will be destroyed and the weak will be ex­
          (72:18­20,  KJV). The third and fourth   alted by God (40:29; 41:2­4, 11­13, 25;
          books end with the same chorus as the first   47:10­11; 61:1­7).
          (Psalm 89:52 and 106:48), and the fifth   What our view should be
          and final book of the Psalter closes with a
          command: “Let everything that hath     Twelve times in chapters 1­39, God is
          breath Praise the Lord” (150:6, KJV).   presented as the “Holy One of Israel.” By
                                              contrast, in the rest of the OT, this expres­
          Isaiah’s view of God                sion is only found six times. In the celebri­

             Isaiah’s prophecy of 66 chapters has   ty­obsessed society in which we live, where
          been likened to the Bible as a whole, war­  self esteem is often based on social media, a
          ranting closer examination. The first 39   meditation on Isaiah’s reaction in chapter 6
          chapters of Isaiah are predominantly a mes­  is revealing. Isaiah described incomparable
          sage of judgment. Chapters 40­66, though,   power and holiness, and while he could not
          offer a message of comfort, pardon for sin,   fully enter into what he saw, it compelled
          and salvation (40:1), and speak of the com­  him to look inward, and to state “Woe is

          2   TRUTH kTidings  I The Greatness of Your God
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