"Great Is The Lord"

Psalm 48:1-2

1) Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

2) Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

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ven unregenerated man realizes that the God of creation is great—when he bothers to focus on Him. This shows that our problem is not how great God is, or His ability to take care of situations. Our problem is our focus on self and the fact that it makes it difficult for us to keep our minds focused on His greatness. So, what is the result? We dare to measure the greatness of the Lord in comparison to what takes place in our lives.

The scripture states in Roman 8 that one who is in Christ, walking after the Spirit, will be under no condemnation. Once again, we are reminded that weakness does not exist in God, but is found in the flesh. Man will always succumb to it as he relies upon it and his ability to learn and know. Since this fleshly knowledge of man originates in his fleshly world, it is easier and more comfortable for him to stick with his own "kind" and all that is familiar to him. Man is so often "disoriented" when dealing with God because His knowledge is exalted and unrelated in any way to fleshly problems and human understanding.

We quote and sing these verses of today's text, but do we really understand the background of and circumstances under which it was proclaimed?

Reality is that God is great and greatly to be praised at any time. The "city of our God" spoken of is Jerusalem, the city of David. This was a stronghold built on the side of a mountain and strategically located and protected from the enemy. For all this, was this city really to be credit to David? The answer is no, and such is to be the case, now. Whatever God has accomplished in us He is to receive all praise. In that He looks out for us and protects us in every situation, we are to properly acknowledge it before others that they might learn to trust Him.

Ask yourself: how often have complaints helped anyone to come to salvation? Unfortunately, most complaints are about our brothers and sisters. Why do we complain? Generally, to elicit sympathy. Once that is done, does the situation change? Feeling bad about anything does us absolutely no good. On the contrary, if we consciously focus on the greatness of God, we feel ourselves to see Him as he best thing in our lives.

"The mountain of His holiness," spoken of refers to the authority of God. If in the city of God, we are protected, then the mountain of His holiness affords us the protection of His holiness. Consequently, those outside of holiness have no protection; without any thought of holiness, there is no reason to sow in joy. But, since we live in a holy kingdom, let us lead people to a holy God by never ceasing to emphasize Acts 2:38. Everyone deserves a "fighting chance" to make it into the kingdom of God—no matter what his denomination. We must remember that the "unsaved" are not just those outside of the Church or those involved in ungodliness. The ungodly are all those who have never been born again. Those without the Holy Ghost can praise Him only to a certain extent, whereas we who have been born again can praise God with the ultimate praise via the Holy Ghost. Our own language takes us only so far and then the Holy Ghost takes over, allowing us to glorify the God in us.

Those of us who know the goodness of the Lord must learn to praise Him unconditionally, setting aside all thoughts of "fault," whether real or imaginary. We must usher Him in, step up and step forth to praise Him. We must usher Him in, step up and step forth to praise Him. We must arise to every occasion to praise Him because, praise cuts through the thickness of sorrow, trouble, pain and sickness—none of which are any match for the praise of God.

Without a doubt, God is great anyway, but He has designed praise to remind us of this and to allow us to acknowledge how great we know He is. After all, who else would have bothered to think of us, save us and keep us? This is not to mention all of the "extras" that come with the plan.