two reasons to praise

Praise him for his mighty deeds;

praise him according to his excellent greatness!

Psalm 150:2

This simple verse in the final psalm of over-the-top enthusiastic praise calls me to praise the Lord for two very real reasons: 1) what His power has done, and 2) what His character is. Both are important for me to remember and both bring vitality to a heart that will lead it to true worship.

Beginning with a recognition of His mighty deeds, my heart turns to the power that I know in two very real ways: Creation and New Creation. I love seeing God’s power in the world He has made. I see the expansive heavens and marvel at His poser to simply speak them all in to being. Each star in the night sky is a glowing atomic furnace of incredible power, and there are billions of them scattered across an apparently boundless universe. That’s just one facet of His might in creation.

His power in “re-creation” in Christ is also mind-boggling. I have experienced this by faith in the good news that Jesus Christ died for my sin, and rose again giving new life and eternal life to all who believe. This is the spiritual equivalent of those billions of stars shining in the night sky. I have this new life in Christ. I sense it. I know it. I can feel it. It is a mighty deed of new creation.

How and why did God show such mighty work among us? Because He is excellently great. He is not great in a political or popular sense of that word. Rather, God is essentially great as a part of Who God is. He is great in holiness and perfection. That drives all God is and all God does. And that makes God alone my worthy worship.