In
the Word – Great Wonders – Thanksgiving part 2
“O
give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for
ever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for
ever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for
ever. To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for
ever.” Psalm 136:1-4. Last week we
looked at the first two reasons the Psalmist list for us to give thanks to the
Lord; The fact that the Lord is good, and “his mercy endureth for
ever. We are compelled to give thanks to
God for His “great wonders” that He has done.
The
writer of Psalm 136 goes on, in verses five through nine, to list some of these
“great wonders.” God “by wisdom made the
heavens,” He “stretched out the earth above the waters,” and He “made great
lights” – “The sun, the moon, and stars.” Creation is filled with many great
wonders. We can get a further explanation of creation from the book of
Genesis. However, one of my favorite
verses on the wonder of creation comes from the book of Job 26:7, “He
stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon
nothing.” Just get the visual of God
reaching down, gripping the north, and stretching it out over empty space, and
then hanging the earth in the middle of it. This would definitely be a “great
wonder.”
God
did not stop with just the earth. He
gave us the Sun, and because we needed a night light, God gave us the
moon. While He was at it, He threw in a
trillion or so stars, just because He could.
What “great wonders”!
The next section of Psalm 139, verses ten through 15, are a thanksgiving hymn
to the redeemer of Israel. It was with a
strong hand and great wonders that God led the children of Israel out of
Egypt. God is talking to Moses in Exodus
3:20, and said, “And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my
wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you
go.”
“Great wonders” did not stop in the Old
Testament. In the book of Acts 2:22, Peter
was preaching and said, “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth,
a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God
did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.” Jesus did many great wonders while he was on
earth. However, the greatest wonder in my mind is the fact that He saved
me!
Elder Tim White
Ider, Alabama
