7 times 7 - who can speak?

Psalm 106:2 "Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the Lord, or who can show forth all His praise?"

We human beings are a proud group, often thinking we know everything, that all our thoughts and words are fascinating and assume if we are speaking, someone else should be listening with rapt attention. But the glory of the Lord does not usually lead people to praise Him. In fact, seeing just a bit of His glory leads us to tremble, hide or fall to our face. When the Lord visits Mount Sinai for the first time, after the Israelites are led out of Egypt, the people tremble and stand at a distance and tell Moses "do not let God speak to us or we will die". When Isaiah has a vision of the Lord in His temple, he says "Woe is me, for I am ruined!For I am a man of unclean lips." When the angel of the Lord visits Daniel, after revealing in a vision what would happen to his people, Daniel becomes speechless and turns his face to the ground.

But I think the best example is Job, after God has spoken of His glory Job replies "Behold, I am insignificant, what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth." and later he says "I declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know."

One of the most glorious pictures painted of heaven comes from Revelation 4, where the 24 elders who were seated on thrones fall before the Lord and cast their crowns before the throne saying "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things and because of Your will they existed and were created." The hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy" describes it beautifully when it reads "Holy, holy, holy. All the saints adore Thee. Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. Cherubim and seraphim, falling down before Thee. Who were and art and evermore shall be."

This isn't to say that we shouldn't bother to worship because we are insignificant, but rather that we should always be worshipping because He is worthy! We could never speak fully of all His amazing deeds, because we can't comprehend it. We could never give Him all the praise He deserves, because we are mortal and He is eternal. But if we truly meditate on His greatness, our response is to praise Him with all that is in us. We will give Him everything we are, knowing that it is not enough - but it is all we have. This is the "living sacrifice" we are called to be.

Praise Him with all that is in you!