Focus on Our Great God
Pastor Gary Oser
We are constantly bombarded with all the bad news going on in the world! A news channel we watch ends the news each Saturday night by sharing about a minute of positive, heart-warming stories. I often comment that they should share good stories for the majority of the news and then give the closing minute to the bad news.
As believers, it is so easy to get pulled into all the bad things going on in our world. Rather than focus on all the negative things going on, I believe we should focus on our God.
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As I read my Bible, I try to watch for different names and descriptions for God. Recently, I ran across some words in Deuteronomy 10 that were a great encouragement to me. It was at the time of the giving of the Ten Commandments that God shared these words with the children of Israel. I believe they are a good reminder for us today as well.
Deuteronomy 10:17 says, “For the Lord your God is the God of god’s, and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.” Verse 21 continues, “He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.”
Our God is God above all other gods and Lord above all lords. No other gods and lords can even come close to our God. As the song “Champion of Love” well says, “He is higher than the highest and greater than the great…!”
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Three words are used to describe our God in verse 17: great, mighty and awesome. I know they are all similar in meaning, but I would like to share a word about each of them.
The word “great” is a broad word, but it speaks of being superior and highly significant.
The word “mighty” means showing superior power or strength. Genesis 18:14 well asks, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” The obvious answer is, “No!”
The word “awesome” means inspiring an overwhelming feeling of wonder and admiration. We are filled with wonder as to how the God of the universe can be interested in us, and how He would send His sinless Son to take punishment for our sins.
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I would mention just a couple things from verse 21. First, God is our praise. The New Living Translation (NLT) says, “…He is the only One worthy of our praise.” I hope when you think of God, your heart is filled with praise.
Second, verse 21 says, “…He is your God…” He is not just another God, but your personal God who is intimately involved in your life. God is our hope! We need to spend more time focusing on Him in the Word of God!