1 Chronicles chapter 16 tells us that this praise psalm was used when the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem and placed in the Tent of David. It is a joyous call for Israel to worship God with loud singing and humble trembling which in turn issues an invitation to creation and all the other nations to join in praise of YHWH. On that occasion David blessed all the people and sent them to their homes with portions of food to celebrate God’s enthronement. Moses was not told to add music to the worship of the Temple but David is given free rein to add singers, players of instruments, and musical processions to the worship. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.

God is good. God is great. God is awesome and terrible. And since God is so great, the praise that is given to him should be a worthy and fitting response. The word means “much, very, excessively.” In Ephesians Paul summons us to conduct our lives in a way that is fitting to the great call we have received in Christ Jesus. Here we are invited to praise and worship God with a “muchness” that is appropriate to how great God is.

Our singing should be bursting with a buoyancy that comes from knowing God, not static and rote, mumbled with distraction. Our prayers should be full of energy and confidence, not routine and dry. The preaching of the Word of God should be full of conviction and penetration, not merely orthodox and “correct.” Our gathering at the Lord’s table should be marked with a trembling, humble confidence that we meet the Lord Jesus there, not a formal exercise of a dead ritual.

Then there is the invitation for the nations to worship. The invitation is our worship itself; it should be shot through with a power and beauty that draws attention to the one we worship. Of course, the power that does this comes from the Holy Spirit. But it also comes from hearts warmed by the love of God. It comes from hearts not passively wondering what God might do but powerfully declaring what he’s done. It comes from lives marked with a determined desire to extravagantly worship God in a way that is fitting. That kind of worship will cause outsiders to fall on their face in worship of God and declare that God is among us.

God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is great. May we worship him this Friday, and for years to come, with a “muchness” that is fitting to who he is and what he has done.