God is Great

When I was working in the school a few years ago, I had a student who came up to me one day and said he wrote a song, and would I like to hear it? He started by singing, "God is good; God is great," then proceeded into some kind of young teenager weirdness that made little actual sense, then busted up laughing. For the next two years while we shared a building, every time this young man saw me, he would break out in a chorus of, "God is good; God is great," then bust up laughing all over again. 

I delighted in him. That laugh was contagious, even if I never made sense of whatever came next, which he never repeated. 

And...he was right. God is great. 

This has been a refrain of many a song and prayer for thousands of years. We say it almost without thinking about it. But to be in the presence of God is to know His greatness. 

Psalm 90 tells us that God shows His greatness to all of His servants; His children see His majesty.

For me, this seems like being in the presence of a great leader. 

When you were a servant in the house, you saw things that maybe you wouldn't have seen if you weren't just busying yourself in your work. You hear things. You're trusted to be in the presence of the master of the house because you're faithful in what you're doing and you're genuine in your being. So you get these glimpses of the private nature of the master. 

And in God's case, that private nature is greatness. (Just as is His public nature.) 

There's something about seeing someone who is the same in private as they are in public. Who is just as full of grace and love in the living room as in the board room. Who engages every situation with grace and tenderness, but also strength and confidence. Who is just as good today as He was yesterday and the day before that and the day before that. 

There's something about hearing the whispers and realizing that the voice is the same in private as it is in public. That there's no pretense or posturing. That the Master is just through-and-through an example of greatness, fully Himself all the time. Without changing. 

It's when you're privy to these private moments that you realize that everything God has said about Himself is true. It's as true in the kitchen as it is in the bedroom as it is in the bathroom as it is in the backyard as it is in the grocery store and the cubicle and the parking lot. He just is exactly as He says that He is. And you witness it over and over and over again. 

And you witness it as a servant and as a child. As a faithful attendant to the things of God and as an heir to heaven itself. You witness it from your proper place, doing your proper duty, permitted to experience it as a member of the household, a trusted member of the household, a beloved member of the household of God. 

So serve, child, and delight in your Father, for He is truly great. And everything you see, hear, taste, smell, and come to know will confirm that, for He is gracious to show you again and again and again.