Magnify The Lord
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Most people, at one time or another,
have looked through the wrong end of a pair of
binoculars and have been shocked at how small things
seemed. This experience is a fitting parable for
how small and far away God sometimes seems when we are
in the midst of trouble and we look at God through the
lens of our own experience.
King David often found himself in
trouble. In Psalm 40:12 (NAS), he said,
AEvils beyond
number have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken
me, so that I am not able to see...and my heart has
failed me.@
But David knew not to look at God in a way that made God
seem small. Rather, he said,
AThe Lord be
magnified!@
(Psalm 40:16 NAS).
To magnify (Strong's #1431, gadal)
means to be or to make to be large. David said,
AO magnify the
Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together@
(Psalm 34:3 NAS). Thus he makes God large or great
(in his own eyes) by praising and extoling Him.
Again, he says, AI
will praise the name of God with song, and shall magnify
Him with thanksgiving@
(Psalm 69:30 NAS).
As he magnified the Lord, David found
the grace to wait upon Him for deliverance and rescue.
Thus his testimony became,
AI waited
patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard
my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of
destruction, out of the miry clay; and He set my feet
upon a rock, making my footsteps firm@
(Psalm 40:1-2 NAS).
We too can all magnify the Lord
through our praise and thanksgiving, especially as we
see Him through the lens of the Word of God. And
He will loom large and fill our view with His
magnificent glory, mercy, and power. And we too
will experience God=
s wonderful intervention in our lives.
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