God is great, God is good…

For I proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our God. – Deuteronomy 32v3

Moses is wrapping things up here. He has done all the leading he can do and taught all that he can. Like many great leaders who are retiring from the scene Moses gave a great farewell address to His followers.

What follows is a beautiful psalm of praise to the God who had carried them through the wilderness.

He begins with a simple enough instruction with plenty to follow; ‘ascribe greatness to our God.’

We tend to ascribe greatness to a great many things, and I don’t have a problem with that. ‘That was a great meal.’ Ireland played a great match Saturday.’ That’s great news.’

Sadly I can find myself only ascribing greatness to God when I see the results of His work as great according to my point of view. The truth is that God is great no matter what I see.

I thought about this recently when Matt was talking about Michelle’s leukaemia. From our perspective we can say things like ‘What a great God we have’ because He has brought her safely through the most serious part of her illness and the prognosis is good. As Matt pointed out the other day though, God would still be great even if she had not survived those first crucial days.

One of the first prayers I learned as a child was a prayer to say before meals. ‘God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food. Amen’

That might be a simple, childlike prayer, but it sure starts with some great theology!