April 6

Psalm 96
He is great! What is so great about Him? He is our Creator. A long look at His creation reveals His greatness for He is necessarily greater than His creation. We are to fear Him; why? He told Moses that to see His glory fully and frontally would kill us. We couldn’t take it. Infinite power and infinite purity scares me. If we could instantly be placed on the surface of the sun, the heat of the radiated power would vaporize us instantly. Why should being exposed completely to the infinite God, who created that sun, be any less threatening? I don’t walk in fear of the sun destroying me, but I do know my rightful position in relation to it. I know to wear sunscreen, a wide brimmed hat and long sleeves if I am going to be exposed to its rays. I know that I cannot get too far from it, or I will die. I know that I cannot get too close to it, or I will die. So with God, I cannot get too far or too close to Him, or I will die. I need a healthy fear of Him.
Honor and majesty are before Him. Last week I performed a wedding ceremony. Part of the vows that I made the groom give to the bride was to “share with you all the honor of my name.” What if the grooms name was not honorable? What if he was a cheating scoundrel? What would he be sharing with her? His name had to be honorable if that vow were to be of any value to His bride. Suppose honor were something that was already ingrained in Him, suppose that honor was a deep part of His character, then the vow would have great meaning and benefit to his bride. Honor must go before him. We are the bride of our great God. He seeks to share with us all the honor of His name. His honor goes before Him in strength. He is not a scoundrel, but is faithful and true. He keeps His promises. He is pure. We benefit greatly from Him.
Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. How is strength in a sanctuary? Beauty I think I understand, but how can strength be in a sanctuary? Maybe I should defer to my friend, Mark Pruitt, an architect to speak to this issue. Some sanctuaries are plain and unadorned. Some are simply the vegetation of the outdoors. Some are grandiose and gaudy. I have had opportunity to travel a little in Germany and Mexico. I have seen great cathedrals and chapels which were built hundreds of years ago. Buildings over a hundred years old in Oklahoma are rare indeed. Most buildings in Oklahoma of that age are decaying and weak. But the cathedrals are strong and will probably endure much longer. But their strength is more than just their ability to stand strong through the ages. When you walk into a cathedral, there is just an atmosphere of strength. There is something about the architecture that exudes strength. It makes you look up. It makes you feel small. It makes you realize the power of a greater force. Hopefully that force would be God, but sometimes it is another god. The point is that He is STRONG! When I come to worship Him, is that what I find, a God who is strong? Is He stronger than all the problems of my day? Indeed He is.
Greatness, honor and strength are all part of His glory. To bless His name, I need to know these things about Him, relate them to my life and then speak them to others. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John