You…Do Wondrous Things
“For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.”
The reason God does wondrous things in this Psalm is because he is God. Not only is he God, but he is the only God. David says “you alone are God.” David also says that God is great. So, because God is great and God alone he only truly does wondrous things. Psalm 72:18 affirms this idea, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.” What does David mean by “wondrous things?”
There are nineteen references in the Psalms to the word “wondrous” in the ESV. The Hebrew word is the same for all of them. It is the word pala’, which means to be marvelous, to be surpassing, to be wonderful, to be extraordinary, to do things which distinguish. Sometimes our translations render the word as wonderful, marvelous or wonders. It is a word of action.
If God never did anything how would we know that he was God? It is because God has revealed himself that we can know him. This self-revelation of God is found in creation and in the Scriptures. We call creation general revelation and we call the Word of God special revelation. In both creation and the Scriptures we see God acting. We see God doing. We see God accomplishing.
It is not just that God is doing, but how he is doing. He is acting in such a way that no one else can act. In other words, God sets himself apart by his actions. All of God’s works and working are glorious. He manifests his glory in what he has done, and in what he does. Again, it is God revealing himself. God is complete in himself. He requires no sustaining. He is life himself. He is.
Jesus said that before Abraham was I am (John 8:58). The Jews understood Jesus to be making himself equal with God, because he used name that distinguishes God, namely; I am. This was the name that God used in revealing himself to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:14, also vs. 6). God is the ever-present One. He revealed himself to Moses in the bush that was not consumed. We would call that a ‘wondrous’ display of God.
The entire Bible is God’s Word to us. A word in which, he reveals himself as a working acting God. It is necessary in the Bible that we see God as working and acting, because it causes us to trust him. He is reliable. We can be confident in this unchangeable ever-present God.
The greatness of God is seen in the display of his glory. The shepherds in the field saw and heard the angelic chorus (Luke 2:9, 10, 13, 14). Their response is quite revealing. In Luke 2:15 they say, “let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” Notice who they say revealed this good news to them. It was the Lord. They don’t say, the angel made this known to us. How did they make the connection to the Lord? Well, they saw the glory of God shining around them. They heard the angels praising God saying, “Glory to God in the highest…” The angelic chorus was a display of the beauty and wonder and glory of God. When God revealed himself in human form in the Old Testament, people responded with worship.
When John saw and heard the glorified Christ in the book of Revelation, what did he do? He fell at his feet as though dead (Rev.1:17). This was a very different response by the beloved disciple who leaned on the breast of Jesus in the upper room at the Passover feast. When Jesus did his wondrous miracles, people responded with worship. The changing of the water into wine at Cana is described as Jesus manifesting his glory (John 2:11). The disciples respond by believing in him (John 2:11).
The disciples were quite overcome on the Mount of Transfiguration when they saw the glory of Jesus (Matthew 17:1 – 8). Thomas worships the risen Lord Jesus Christ as “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28). All of these are wondrous manifestations of God as God.
Job was confronted with the glory of God in Job 38 – 41. He could not answer God. He could only lay his hand on his mouth in silence and contemplate the eternal gap between himself and God.
It is necessary for us to grasp these concepts because true worship consists in understanding them. We do not worship what we do not know. We have salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ, and salvation in Christ brings the knowledge of God. The Bible is God’s revelation to us that we might study the inscrutable ways of God. We do not know all there is to know and we have not grasped the Scriptures as we ought. The incomprehensibility of God is comprehensible in Jesus. We must see Jesus revealed. We must see what he has done. We must listen to his words. We must sink them deep into our minds and hearts. Biblical meditation is pondering the majesty of God revealed.
David responds to his statement about the greatness of God and his wondrous display of himself in Psalm 86:10, by saying in verse 11, “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I might walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.” We cannot and must not walk away from God when he speaks to us in his Word. We must stop and realize that if God has spoken and acted for our benefit that the only way forward is to learn from him.
This is at the heart of being a disciple of Jesus. We have seen his glory in his Word. We have received him and since we have received him we must do as the Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 2:6, 7, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
The Lord Jesus invites each of us to “learn” from him (Matt.11:29). Learning is not an easy thing. To learn from Jesus is to consider his ways and imitate them. To do what Jesus does. The ultimate expression of discipleship is to take up our cross and follow Jesus in self-denial (Mark 8:34). The things that matter most to us must have second place to Jesus. Paul said that whatever he had once considered as gain to him was now as refuse to him (Phil.3:8).
Everything fades away and pales into insignificance compared with “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8). How wondrous is Christ Jesus to us? We very quickly realize that we fall far short of what we should be. This is why it is necessary to leave things behind us and continually press on. If you are wondering, “what might have been,” you are expending energy on something gone. Rather pursue that which is available to you. Pursue Christ. Get Christ. Never stop hungering and thirsting after Jesus. The more we lay aside ourselves and our stuff, the more wondrous Jesus will be to us.
When Peter, James and John were on the Mount of Transfiguration, after Jesus’ glory had blazed forth, they lifted up their eyes, and they saw no one but Jesus only (Matt.17:8). The beauty and wonder of Jesus is “Jesus only.” It is Jesus alone. It is not Jesus and anything else. He is great. He does wondrous things. He has saved us. He is God alone. Worship this Lord Jesus Christ