By the glory of God we understand the presence of God, come to light in our midst, so that we know Him and are drawn into the experience of His presence, majesty, and might. This can be a crushing experience, as we might imagine. That’s why the presence of God’s glory is often described as a kind of “weight.” In Scripture, whenever people are confronted with the glory of God, they fall down on their faces in fear and trembling, as though some great weight had suddenly fallen upon them, and their lives were in danger.

But very often those same people, cowering before the presence of God, will give God praise and thanks and say ridiculous things like, “It’s good for us to be here.”

The glory of God is what the world and everything in it is made for – including we ourselves. To know God in His glory is to know ultimate reality – defining beauty, goodness, and truth. It is to enter into the heart of reality itself and to glimpse eternity in a most personal, intimate, and loving way. This is what God desires for us, that our hearts might soar within His glory and rejoice in things too wonderful to express.

And God’s common grace is designed to bring out His glory, until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2.14).

Psalm 148

In Psalm 148 all the creatures outlined in Psalm 104 are represented as praising God. Angels and heavenly hosts (v. 2); the sun, moon, and stars (v. 3); sea creatures (v. 7); the weather (v. 8); mountains and hills and fruit-bearing trees (v. 9); all creatures on or in the earth (v. 10); and all human beings of every rank and status (vv. 11, 12).

These, we recognize, are the same creatures mentioned in Psalm 104 as having been created by God and now being sustained by Him. Those creatures – all creatures – which are the beneficiaries of God’s common grace are intended for His praise, Who made and cares so lovingly for them.

But how does this happen? The heavens declare the glory of God, as we’ve seen, but very few people seem to be paying attention. The evolutionist looks at the creation and sees pointlessness, purposelessness, death, and oblivion. How does creation, which is the object of God’s common grace, fulfill its God-given purpose of bringing glory and honor to Him?

This is where we come in.

A people near to God

Psalm 148.14 describes the redeemed people of the Lord as “exalted” in the earth yet “near to Him.” By virtue of our being “near” to God we come to know Him in His glory. We experience His beauty, are infused with His presence and power, know what it’s like to be in the midst of goodness and wisdom and uprightness. Glory is something with which we become familiar, and which we long to know more of every day. By virtue of our being “exalted” in the earth we stand over all the creatures in a way that allows us, like Gerard Manley Hopkins, to observe and celebrate the common grace of God in every creature, and to point out His glory, “fathering-forth” in all the many and varied ways it does every day.

In other words, as the common grace of God works within the creation, and as He reveals His glory in so doing, our calling, who know God in His glory, is to “give voice” to the creation and to observe, explain, and celebrate the glory of the Lord, as far as His common grace reaches and as often as we see His glory, coming to light.

Certainly we won’t all become poets. But we all have a calling from God to “glorify” Him in every situation and in everything we do (1 Cor. 10.31). As we become more conscious of the common grace of God – His wondrous and unfailing steadfast love – we will, like the psalmists, give glory and praise and worship to Him, thus bringing His common grace to its full and proper conclusion.

Next steps

How can a growing awareness of the common grace of God bring more worship into your walk with and work for the Lord? Talk with a church leader about this question.

Additional Resources

Download this week’s study, Common Grace.

Sign up for ViewPoint Leaders Training and start your own ViewPoint discussion group.

For a deeper study of God’s grace, order a copy of T. M.’s book,I Will Be Your God, from our online store.

Men, download our free brief paper, “Men of the Church: A Solemn Warning,” by clicking here.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.