Dave's Diary

Daily Reading: Psalm 111

There were moments in Scripture when Almighty God revealed His glory in physically visible ways. Moses beheld a glimpse of God’s glory on the mountain. The Israelites saw the cloud of God’s glory leading them in the wilderness, resting on Moses’ tent of meeting and later filling the tabernacle when it was dedicated. Solomon and the people of God saw the cloud of God’s glory fill the Temple when the ark was placed in the Holy of Holies for the first time.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, God physically revealed His glory to Peter, James and John in two ways. First, He allowed them to see His radiant glory shining out of Jesus, and then the cloud of Hid glory descended on the mountain. It’s no wonder they were utterly overwhelmed.

In today’s Psalm, though, we come to realise that God’s glory is also permanently on display through His work in our lives and our world. The beauty, holiness, power and presence of God are not only displayed by visible signs like a “glory cloud”, but also by what God does and how God does it. In Psalm 111 we discover that God’s glory is displayed by His “works” (v.2), which is why there is great value in “pondering” those works and “delighting in them” (v.2).

When we gaze at God’s glory by pondering and delighting in His works (which simply means to reflect deliberately on how we see God at work in our lives and in our world) the Psalmist assures us we will discover that God is great, glorious, majestic, righteous, eternal, gracious, compassionate, generous, faithful, powerful, just, trustworthy, upright, saving, liberating, holy and awesome. No wonder the Psalm ends: “To Him belongs eternal praise”.

The visible manifestation of God’s glory in a cloud reveals the awesome power and beauty of God’s presence. But there is even more of God’s glory to be seen through the careful observation of His Creation, His everyday work in the world, and His dealings with us in history and everyday life.

May this day bring us fresh revelations of the awesome greatness, glory, majesty, righteousness, eternality, grace, compassion, generosity, faithfulness, power, justice, trustworthiness, uprightness, salvation, redemption, beauty and holiness of our God! Amen.