There are a few words in our cultural vocabulary we use frequently and freely to express our opinion of things, even if they miss the literal mark of their original meaning. Haven’t we all said countless times that we LOVE this or that, a meal, a movie, a hobby or a personal possession, when a lesser descriptor would have sufficed? I love Jesus, my wife and my children; I like, enjoy, or even savor ice cream. I’d be hard pressed to say that I actually love an item of food, if love means what we all think it means. And yet, the term of endearment – love – rolls off my tongue with ease.
There is another word I suspect we all use regularly which has been spoken or written in countless languages throughout the entirety of recorded history. Originally, it was probably used sparingly, a term conveying an attribute of something, or someone rarely attained. These days, in a way similar to that of love, this word means far more than its use would suggest.
When was the last time you uttered the phrase, “That was great!” Do you recall what it was that prompted you to refer to it that way? Was it a gift? An act of service? A piece of art? A new gadget?
How might the thing you called “great” compare to Alexander the Great? What if you set it next to the Great Wall of China? How does it measure up to the Great Lakes or to whatever is meant by the Great Unknown? My hunch is, much of what we refer to as “great” probably isn’t in the strictest sense, but we’re trying to say we think highly of something or someone.
Believe me, I’m not critiquing our use of the word. Like a snowball rolling downhill, words pick up some girth over the years. They can mean what they always did while picking up added meaning in various contexts. I’m just observing how our everyday use of a word might distort or diminish its intended meaning elsewhere.
Just this week, I was reading Psalm 145. It is the final psalm in the Psalter attributed to King David and is titled “a song of praise.” The essence of the psalm is clearly stated in verse three, and substantiated throughout the eighteen verses that follow.
“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” (Psalm 145:3)
David is declaring three crucial truths about God, all of which help us to see the Lord rightly and respond to him in ways that fit who he is and what he is like, especially in contrast to everything else that exists in the universe he spoke into being. You can probably already see where I’m going with this.
If the Lord is “great,” what does that mean? By what standard is he given that description? Great compared to what? Is there anything or anyone else we would consider great in the same sense that God is great? I’m not suggesting that the term can’t be used of anything else, but when used of God or of something he created, we should probably keep a distinction in mind between the two. For instance, The Great Wall of China is great, but certainly not in the same way or to the same degree that God is great.
The adjective great speaks to expansive, extraordinary, or exceptional qualities which are remarkable and/or superior in magnitude, degree, character, or effectiveness. When applied to God, the modifier reveals to us that he is all the above in a way that nothing else can even begin to compare. To say that God is great is to say that he is exclusively the full and final definition of what great is. Or to say it another way, we know great in its purest form if we know God. Any other person, place or thing we might call great is so in a deficient way when compared to the standard.
With that in mind, the second crucial truth in verse three logically follows. The Lord is “greatly to be praised.” If God is extraordinary and exceptional in every possible way, it makes sense that he is worthy of praise, worship, and adoration. David assumes that praise is the reflex of all that is inferior directed to that which is superior.
And if there were any question, David adds, “His greatness is unsearchable.” None can plumb the depths or scale the heights of his magnificence. All his attributes which constitute his greatness are infinite in extent, inexhaustible in their expression. Even though we might endlessly celebrate his greatness, all our esteem falls short of the worthiness God possesses.
The apostle Paul certainly understood David’s song of praise. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:33–36, ESV)
I’m praying my life would progressively reflect the same conviction. I am sobered by how often my attention goes to lesser things in my life that I regularly refer to as great. I want to appreciate the goodness inherent to all that God has provided, but I long for those provisions to point me to my Provider, the epitome of greatness.