His Name Is Majestic
"O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens." (Psalm 8:1 NRS)
"Isn't it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?" (Francis Chan)
Several of the words we use to describe God and His names regularly make their way into our ordinary conversations: great, awesome, amazing. But I can't think of the last time I used "majestic" in any context. It seems to be expressly reserved for God and for the grand things He has made: skies, mountains, eagles in flight.
With truly profound apologies for using yet another "Little House on the Prairie" reference, a scene from one of the later episodes of the TV show is, improbably, the first thing that came to my mind when I was digging into this attribute of God's name. (I promise we're going somewhere with this.)
In the scene, Mrs. Oleson—one of the show's two characters we delight to despise—is giving Nellie (the other of those characters) a school graduation gift of a hotel and restaurant. (My parents gave me a typewriter...which was a lot more useful.) Mrs. Oleson shows Nellie the kitchen and extols the virtues of its stove, a Majestic brand. "Look!" she swoons. "It's a Majestic! It's a majestic stove!!"
(Here she splays her arms out with a flourish and waits expectantly for Nellie's reaction.)
Nellie is not impressed with her Majestic stove...but oh, how I hope we are impressed with our majestic God.
I know, though, that I need to work on this...on not taking God's majesty for granted. I want to splay my arms open with a flourish and enthuse over who God is and what He's done. I want to extol the virtues of the Majestic. I want to understand that the reason I don't use "majestic" in ordinary conversation is because, while God is with us in the ordinary, He Himself is extraordinary.
Oh God, Your name is majestic. Help me to make it known.
* * * * * *
Nellie is not impressed with her Majestic stove...but oh, how I hope we are impressed with our majestic God.
I know, though, that I need to work on this...on not taking God's majesty for granted. I want to splay my arms open with a flourish and enthuse over who God is and what He's done. I want to extol the virtues of the Majestic. I want to understand that the reason I don't use "majestic" in ordinary conversation is because, while God is with us in the ordinary, He Himself is extraordinary.
Oh God, Your name is majestic. Help me to make it known.
* * * * * *
Song suggestion: "How Majestic Is Your Name;" songwriter Michael W. Smith;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXzzsoL7tEI.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXzzsoL7tEI.
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I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to tell me what you really think. Years ago, I explained to my then-two-year-old that my appointment with a counselor was "sort of like going to a doctor who will help me be a better mommy." Without blinking, she replied, "You'd better go every day." All of which is just to say I've spent some time in the school of brutal honesty!