The first part of David’s psalm of praise, Psalm 145, looked at God’s greatness and the fact that He is worthy of praise. God is greatly to be praised. Verses five through ten tell of God’s honor, majesty, and works.
David said, “I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.” (Psalm 145:5) God does wondrous works, and these works bring Him glorious honor and show to mankind how majestic He is. Consider these words of Nebuchadnezzar after God had restored him to his kingdom, “1) Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. 2) I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. 3) How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation…. 37) Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.” (Daniel 4:1-3 and 37) King Darius also gave honor to the God of heaven when God delivered Daniel from the lions. He said, “26) I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. 27) He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.” (Daniel 6:26,27) It is significant that these three declarations of God’s honor and majesty and mighty works were spoken by kings. All three of these kings had great and powerful kingdoms. However, none of these kings and kingdoms compared to the greatness, power, honor, majesty, and wondrous works of Almighty God, the great King that rules over heaven and earth, the King with an everlasting kingdom that shall never be destroyed and Whose dominion will never have an end.
After declaring that he will speak of God’s honor, majesty and wonderful works, David begins to describe what some of them are. In verses six and seven of Psalm 145, he says, “6) And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. 7) They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.” In these two verses, we see four significant things about God.
- His terrible acts.
God’s terrible acts (that is, acts that cause terror) are done to show the nations that God is most high in honor and worthy of glorious praise and He alone should be worshipped, “Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: 2) Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. 3) Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. 4) All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah. 5) Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.” (Psalm 66:1-5)
- His greatness
God is great over His enemies, “And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.” (Exodus 15:7)
God is great in His pardon and forgiveness. The book of Numbers records this exchange between Moses and the Lord, “19) Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. 20) And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word.” (Numbers 14:19,20)
God is great in redemption, “I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness.” (Deuteronomy 9:26a)
God is great in chastisement, “And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm.” (Deuteronomy 11:2)
God is great in His kingdom and in all that He possesses, “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.” (I Chronicles 29:11)
No doubt there are many more verses telling of the things in which God is very great. This is easy to study out by getting a concordance and looking up the word “greatness” and finding all the verses with that word that are talking about God. It is amazing what the Bible has to say about God’s greatness.
- His goodness
“The earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.” (Psalm 33:5b)
- His righteousness
“For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth. He loveth righteousness and judgment.” (Psalm 33:4,5a)
There is not time or space here to consider one by one the rest of God’s qualities that David mentions, but here are the other things for which he praises the Lord, “8) The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. 9) The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.” (Psalm 145:8,9)
-Gracious
-Compassionate
-Slow to anger
-Of great mercy
-Good to all
-His tender mercies over all His works.
For all these things God is worthy of praise and blessing, “All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.” (Psalm 145:10)