The Splendor of Holiness

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Scripture: Exodus 15:11 (ESV)

11          “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like you, majestic in holiness,

awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

Devotion:

            Today is Friday and rather than deal with any theological or ethical topics, I choose to spend this last day of the work week for most of us in praise and worship. Meditating on specifically on God’s holiness. The English Standard Version, my Bible software tells me, that the Greek and Hebrew words that are translated “holy” occur almost 700 times. If repetition is any indicator of importance, then we would do well to meditate on God’s holiness for a while.

      What does this word, so often heard in churches actually mean. From the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary here is the first entry:

ho•ly \ˈhō-lē\ adjective

ho•li•er; -est [Middle English, from Old English hālig; akin to Old English hāl whole—more at whole] before 12th century

1:   exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness

 

            Meditating on just this definition applied to our God is a wonderful thought. In today’s scripture is taken from the song of Moses that he sang after Israel’s escape from Pharaoh at the Red Sea. Moses sings for the people the praises of God. He wonders aloud in song the majesty of God’s holiness. The people had just witnessed a great and mighty miracle directly from the hand of God. The people worshiped their God after what they had just seen what else could they do.

            The Bible is full of references to the Holiness of God. David wrote this in Psalm 29:

1           Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

            2           Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness

            We are not given any specific reason why David would be praising the Lord here. And that is a good thing, because it invites us to celebrate our God at any time for any reason, or no reason at all. God is worthy of our praise at all times because every breath we take is a gift from God.

            Let us join our hearts today in worshiping our Holy God. We will never truly be able to comprehend the majesty and holiness of God, however, we can praise him for what we do know and understand of who our Holy God is. May we meditate and lift up in praise our Holy God who is worthy to be worshipped. Amen.


 

 

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