None Greater . . .

 

 

My hubby decided to update his computer to Windows 11 but it hung up during the process. At one point, he turned it off, but the little hourglass was still spinning when he turned it back on. He was frustrated. Me too. This annoyance was in our last prayer before sleep and first prayer when waking. Using a back-up laptop, he tried to print something but it didn’t come out of his printer so he sent it to my wireless downstairs. Another frustration. However, I had a quick look at the PC that had left us hanging for more than twelve hours. It worked!

Then the newspaper informed us of a far greater answer to our prayers and that of many others. The 17 missionaries that had been abducted in Haiti on October 18 and held for a million dollar ransom each were all released and safe. What joy!

Whether quick or later, God in His most gracious way hears and answers prayer. He may say NO or WAIT but when good things happen as we pray, He is glorified for His EXCELLENCIES!

The psalmist encourages me to “praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!” I can do that even when bad things happen.

In telling how God instructs farmers, Isaiah 28:29 says, “This also comes from the Lord of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.” He knows everything and I can trust His guidance.

Daniel was commended as a prisoner in exile and said to have “an excellent spirit, knowledge, and understanding to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve problems” which his captors noted were from his gods without realizing (yet) the wonder of God’s excellencies. All Scripture declares who the Lord is and what He does proving He is excellent, exceptional in all His ways.

The Bible also tells how we fall short. Romans 2:17–24 is a rebuke to the Jews and to me also:

“But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’ ”

It was never the plan of God to share His glory with mere mortals, yet He calls us to greater glory than our own efforts can achieve. By humbly admitting our failures and need of Him, we can be filled with His Spirit and the Spirit’s fruit flows from us. He calls this a greater excellency and charges each believer to be like Him, particularly in the excellence of His love for others:

1 Corinthians 12:31–13:3. “But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Philippians 1:9–11. “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

Of course our example is Jesus who is most excellent in all that He is and does . . .

Hebrews 1:3–4. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”

Hebrews 8:6–7. “But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Knowing God is a wonder. Being called to godly excellence is a most humbling blessing. I once thought I could measure up, but now realize that only by His excellent grace can I do anything to glorify Him.