“I will extol you, my God and King, and
bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will
bless you, and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; his greatness
is unsearchable.”
- Psalm 145:1-3
On a shelf in our living room, I keep a
handwritten list of every book I own, with the ones I’ve read crossed out in
pencil. As of today, 46 of the books on that list have yet to be crossed out,
thousands of pages of history, biography, fiction, and graphic novels still waiting
to be read. In my office, I keep a similar list (excepting reference books),
this one recording 32 owned but unread books, everything from dense theological
works to sermon collections to Christian bestsellers. There’s one more ongoing
list I should mention, this one in a note on my phone. Instead of a record of
titles I already own, this one is a constantly growing list of authors, titles,
and genres I want to read, just so
that if I stumble into a bookstore (that tends to happen pretty regularly) I’ll
remember what to look for. All I can give is an estimate on this one, but it’s
safe to assume that, all told, that list includes several hundred books.
I try not to think about this too much, but
when I put these three lists side by side, then add in the number of books
which haven’t even been written yet but which I’ll want to read once they have
been, I can reach only one conclusion: I’m never going to be able to read
everything I want to. There’s too much interesting writing out there, and I
simply don’t have the time to get to it all. A man could spend every waking
hour of the day reading, do that every day of his life, and he still wouldn’t
make a dent in the collective canon of world literature. So logically, I
realize I’m never going to be able to read it all. But boy is it fun to try.
As
impossible as it would be to read everything, in Psalm 145 David addresses a much
more overwhelming task: fully describing the greatness of God. He promises to
extol the praises of God every day forever and ever, for “great is the Lord,
and greatly to be praised.” Nevertheless, he acknowledges that the greatness of
God is “unsearchable,” impossible to completely understand or describe. David
could very well write psalms about every blessing God had extended his way,
every angle of God’s glory he’d witnessed, every attribute of God he could
imagine, and everything he came up with would still only cover a fraction of God’s
fullness.
But
faced with such a challenge, David doesn’t throw up his hands and give up. Instead,
the depth of God’s mercy, justice, and love compel him to spend as much time as
he can in worship, constantly pursuing a deeper relationship with God. David understands
he will never learn everything there is to know about God, that he can never
fully grasp His greatness—but his joy is to know God a little better every day.
In
your own walk with God, may you possess that same passion for encountering God
daily, not frustrated by His mystery, but emboldened by it. Understanding that
you can always know God more intimately and follow him more faithfully, press
on to win the prize for which God has called you heavenward. You’ll never learn
everything there is to know about your Father in heaven—but boy will it be fun
to try.
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