Jump Start # 780

Psalms 34:3 “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”

I love this verse. It brings together two great themes: first, honoring and praising God; second, worshipping with others.

Magnify means to enlarge. We think of a magnifying glass and looking at a bug under it. The bug looks larger because of the magnification. The thought is not making God bigger than He is, because we cannot do that. God is big. We tend to make God smaller than what He is. We limit Him and stuff Him in a church building and try to confine Him there. In church, some reason, it’s God’s business, but outside the church building, it’s our business. WRONG. God is big. If politicians grasped that, many of the things they do would be different. God belongs in our church buildings, our office buildings, our schools, our homes and our hearts. If we magnified God as He deserves, we would not attempt to redefine marriage. God has already defined it. We would not allow abortions. God considers the unborn a child, not a fetus. But more than that, we would clean up our language, our thoughts and our attitudes. Magnify God. Emphasize God. Promote God. Honor God. Dwell upon God. The Lord doesn’t want just a couple hours from you on Sunday, He wants you. He wants you to live a life that glorifies Him, honors Him, recognizes Him, obeys Him. This is what we call godliness—a life of God.

We magnify all the time, it’s that we don’t magnify God. We tend to magnify our problems. We like to magnify ourselves. We magnify pleasure and sports. In doing this, we spin our wheels, become negative and complaining and miss the noble qualities of life. The best way to magnify God is looking closely at Jesus. How did He conduct Himself? How did He deal with people? How did remain godly? Magnify God!

The other thought here is worship. It is an invitation. The verse is inviting another person to magnify the Lord with him. He is asking, “let us” exalt His name “together.” The call to worship. The invitation to worship. This brings an interesting thought to our minds. We invite a friend to church by asking, “Would you like to come to church with me on Sunday?” They are not sure what to expect or don’t see the real need and politely decline. Instead, “Come, let us magnify the Lord together.” This invitation has a direction. It’s about God. It’s not about hearing a preacher. It’s not about the great time we will have. It’s not about the cool people you’ll meet. It’s not about the music, the building, the children. It’s about GOD. Exalt God’s name. Magnify GOD. Just maybe, we’ve left that out.

There is something special about worshipping with someone you know. We share so much of life with each other. We eat meals with friends. We go to ballgames with friends. We shop, go to movies, babysit each other’s kids, share special tips on cooking, finances, and where to buy the latest whatever. It’s just natural that we share God. With me, let’s magnify the Lord. Together, let’s exalt His name. Friends connecting on the spiritual and together praising God.

This one verse gives us so much to think about. Do I magnify the Lord or am I too absorbed with the externals and myself? Can I see past the songs, the preaching, the prayers to God? Am I asking my friends to come and worship God with me? Come…let us—inviting words and encouraging words!

It just makes us want to say, “See you Sunday!” That’s a great thought. Hope we do!

Roger