The very word infinity inspires or gives a sense of grandeur. A sense of grandeur or awe is necessary for worship because worship is to praise or be in awe of God. We worship that which we love the most. It is that which man thinks about and sets his mind on the most. So to the degree that God is majestic and glorious, that is the degree that man is to worship God. How man needs to have his mind and soul removed from the worldly ways of thinking and viewing things in order to have a sense of awe and reverence for God. All things in the world are finite and yet man sets his heart on those things. The heart of man must be removed from the world in order to set it on things above, even things that are infinite since God is infinite in His being and in all of His perfections.
Psalm 147:1 Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God;
For it is pleasant and praise is becoming.
2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.
4 He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.
5 Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.
This Psalm is obviously one of praise. Verse 1 sets out that it is good to sing praises and the reason it is good is because it is pleasant and something becoming to God and man. God is worthy of praise because He builds up Jerusalem, and yet He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the broken hearted and binds their wounds. Notice the contrast between vv. 3 and 4. In v. 3 He is healing the brokenhearted and binding up their wounds, but in v. 4 He is counting the numbers of the stars and giving names to all of them. V. 5, then, is the obvious conclusion that God is great and abundant in strength. But how does the second part of v. 5 fit? It takes an infinite understanding to do what God does. How can God heal thousands of the brokenhearted and bind their wounds at the same time? If it takes a physician with great understanding to apply the right medicines to the right disease, how much greater is it for God to heal hearts? How much greater understanding does it take for God to heal hearts?
When we try to imagine billions and perhaps trillions of stars that astronomers tell us about is it any wonder that God’s understanding has to be infinite in order to count and name them? In the Old Testament times to name something meant that one was in control and perhaps even owner of it. God’s naming of the stars shows that He is the sovereign over them and that He is their rightful owner and commander. How much understanding does it take to call the stars out and have them right where He wants them in the sky?
The infinity of God should give man the sense of awe in all that God is. It should drive man to see his own smallness and utter insignificance apart from the holy One of Israel. With utter and complete adoration man should worship the living God who is infinite in all that He is and does. Who is man to seek the face of an infinite God? Who is man that God would stoop to take human flesh and go to the cross in the place of sinners? Ah, surely man is nothing more than a blind babe in the vastness of the universe and the glory of God. Who is man that he would dare take the infinite God’s name on his lips? Who is man that he would dare approach this infinite God to ask for something? Who is man to even think that this infinite God would take human flesh in order to deliver man from the ravages of sin and make puny and sinful men the very children of God? It would be blasphemy of the highest order to think of man as the temple of God if it had not been revealed in Scripture. But this great God who is infinite in all of His being does bring wretched sinners to Himself because He is infinite in grace as well.
“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:28-29). How grateful man should be in light of the infinity of God and of the infinite grace believers have received through Christ. In light of the glory of God, it takes reverence and awe to worship. In light of all that God has done to glorify Himself through man, man should be grateful. The infinity of God demands and draws worship. How we should bow in worship before such a great and glorious God. We can do nothing for God, so let us worship Him in whom we all live, move, and exist and He gives life, breath, and all things (Acts 17:28, 25).
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