God is Great. God is Good.
Psalm 139
“God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food.”
So begins the blessing many of us were taught in childhood and have passed on to our children. They are simple words – with a poetic rhyme – and flow easily from the lips of a young child at table. They also bring a smile to parents’ faces and an extra beat of joy to their hearts.
However, these precious words are not merely simple and childlike; they are very profound and eternally truthful. “God is great. God is good.”
King David, by the mercy of God, had been blessed with protection and power, with fame and fortune, with courage and charisma. For the most part, he had utilized these gifts of God in commendable ways. The people of his kingdom honored him, and his adversaries respected him.
Yes, he lost sight of his Lord at times and suffered the consequences. He had to face some difficult inner struggles and conflicts. Therein, however, he found that, “the goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Romans 2:4) and that, “… godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation” (II Corinthians 7:10). As we remember, he walked that path of repentance (see Psalm 51/50). God is great. God is good.
At some point in his life, King David paused from the “busyness” and pressures of his reign in Israel to contemplate the greatness and goodness of God. It may have been during one of those times of celebration and cheer, or during one of struggle and sorrow. Regardless, it was an interlude which all of us should take from time to time.
From what he learned in those special moments, David was inspired to write Psalm 139, in which he began to grasp that the greatness of God far exceeds anything he could imagine.
The first realization which came to him was the greatness of God’s perception – What He knows.
“O Lord, You have searched me and known me” (vs. 1). He seems amazed that the God who created the universe and all creatures therein could possibly be mindful of each person and creature. Yet, he now finds that the Lord “sees me and knows me”.
Further, He knows when and where I move about and lie down (vs.2,3); He knows every word that I speak (vs. 4). He watches so closely that He guides me when I begin to stray (vs. 5). Being aware of such divine perception, David exclaims, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (vs. 6).
Whatever David thought of his own degree of knowledge and understanding. He now realized that his was but a drop in the ocean of God’s knowledge. The prophet Isaiah spoke this truth as well, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts ….. says the Lord. … For as the heavens are higher that the earth …. So are My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8). God is great. God is good.
From there, King David wrote of his discovery of the greatness of God’spresence – Where He is.
“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (vs. 7). Again, he appears surprised that the God whom he thought to be so distant and far away is actually right there with him. He begins to recall some various places he might find himself, “If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol (in death), behold, You are there” (vs. 8). Were he to fly with the sun across its course or sail across the seas, God’s hand would still be upon him. Whether in daytime or nighttime, neither could he be hidden from the loving, caring presence of God. God is great. God is good.
Perhaps, with his mind ablaze with this renewed awareness of God’s perception and presence, David is now struck with a revealing of God’s power – What He does.
In particular, the Lord uses an example of His power in very personal aspect of David’s life. David was the youngest of eight sons from his father, Jesse. As we might suppose, he was given the chores no one else wanted (feeding the sheep, etc.) and generally ignored by his older brothers (you’re too young, too small). He may well have wondered whether he was worth anything at all. Why was he even born?
Furthermore, after being chosen by God and anointed by Samuel, David endured the jealousy and fury of King Saul attempting to prevent him from becoming king. In those years of his youth, he knew so much rejection and refusal. Would he ever find his place in life? Would anyone really care?
Now, in his moments of reflecting on God’s greatness, the Lord chooses to confirm His power and love in the creation of every human being. “For You have formed my inward parts; You have woven me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (vs. 13,14). He now understands that he himself is the work of God; that every child conceived in a mother’s womb is “fearfully and wonderfully made” and is a “marvelous work” of God (vs. 14); that the development of the unborn child is beheld by the eyes of God; and that the “days fashioned for each person are written in the Lord’s book” (vs. 15,16).
I wonder if David, after completing the 16th verse, sat back in his chair and sang, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!” (vs. 17). God is great. God is good.
This man, David, “a man after God’s own heart” (I Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22), had just experienced an unforgettable meeting with his Lord. As we noted earlier, it may have been in a time of despair or in a time of delight. In either case, he drank from the well of God’s greatness and goodness.
Thanks be to God, that old well is still there. It still springs with living water for us in time of need and in time of plenty. That great and good God is there to assure us of His perception, His presence and His power. And His invitation stands, “And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).
May we, then, open our hearts afresh to Him as David did in his day:
Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.
(Psalm 139:24)
Fr. Andrew
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