Great are the Works of the Lord . . .
"Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in
them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures
forever." (Ps. 111:2,3) NIV
Recently, while leading out in an adult small group Bible study, I felt
impressed to encourage the group to ponder on the great deeds of the Lord.
As I already knew this particular group wouldn't share their words of praise
for God in front of everyone else, I first explained to them what I wanted
them to do, and then I encouraged them to go for a short walk, away from the
rest, so that their praise time with God could be a little more private.
Imagine my utter disappointment when I was the only one who took part in
this exercise! I didn't understand. This exercise had always been such a
great source of joy and spiritual strength for me, and I couldn't comprehend
why the others in the group didn't seek after private time of praise with
God the way I did. In fact, I must admit that a little of my age-old enemy,
"self-doubt" began to creep in with some major deceptions. You know, stuff
like: "Maybe you were following the lead of 'Lyn' instead of the Holy Spirit
when you came up with this exercise"; "Maybe you aren't giving this group,
entrusted to you by God, the leadership it needs, for you surely aren't
getting through to them"; and "You're just a failure as a small-group
leader!"
It was that same night that this particular text just "happened" to show up
in my personal devotions: "Great are the works of the LORD; they are
pondered by all who delight in them . . .." It caught my attention, and I
knew immediately that the Holy Spirit had a message in this passage for me,
but I didn't quite get it. So I read it again: "Great are the works of the
LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them . . ."
Delight in them . . . That was it! The great works of the Lord are pondered
by those who delight in them! The problem with my group wasn't me! It wasn't
that I wasn't letting the Holy Spirit guide! I wasn't a failure! The problem
lay in the fact that most of the dear souls in my group didn't delight in
the great works of the Lord!
But why not? Doesn't everyone delight in the great works of the Lord?
Before I could begin to criticize my poor group, however, the Holy Spirit
impressed upon my mind the fact that I have not always delighted in the
great works of the Lord, either! There was a time, even when I called myself
a Christian, when I wouldn't have recognized a "great work of the Lord" if
someone waved it under my nose! Why? Because in those days, I wasn't
actively seeking a relationship with God! I simply didn't care! My apathy
made me blind and deaf to God's works!
Suddenly I knew what God was trying to show me. My Bible study group
couldn't appreciate the "great works of the Lord" because they didn't have a
relationship with Him! God wanted me to pray fervently that each and every
member of that study group would develop a burning desire in their hearts to
eagerly seek the Lord. Once the relationship was there, their eyes and ears
would be opened and they would be able to ponder on the great works of the
Lord!
Do any of you know Christians like this? Let's join together in prayer that
the people of God will "wake up"!
Dearest Lord Jesus, ignite a fire in the hearts of Your people! May they
desire with all of their beings to seek after You! May they desire an
ever-deepening friendship with You, so that they may not only recognize the
great works of Your hands, but delight in them as well!
Love in Christ,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets (
www.sermonillustrator.org/minisermons/ ), Answers2Prayer Ministries,
www.Answers2Prayer.org ,