Gadsby #1

Lord willing, I am going to try to read one hymn from the Gadsby hymnal each day and share my thoughts on it here. Here goes nothing...

#1 C.M. Isaac Watts
The Infinity of God. Ps. 147:5; Heb. 4:13

1 Great God! how infinite art thou!
What worthless worms are we!
Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And pay their praise to thee!

2 Thy throne eternal ages stood,
Ere seas or stars were made;
Thou art the ever-living God,
Were all the nations dead.

3 [Nature and time quite naked lie
To thy immense survey,
From the formation of the sky,
To the great burning day.]

4 Eternity, with all its years,
Stands present in thy view;
To thee there’s nothing old appears –
Great God! there’s nothing new!

5 Our lives through various scenes are drawn,
And vexed with trifling cares,
While thy eternal thought moves on
Thy undisturbed affairs.

6 Great God! how infinite art thou!
What worthless worms are we!
Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And pay their praise to thee!

All of time, space, and every conceivable thing seen from every possible angle lies "quite naked" in God's sight. It is impossible for God to not know something. And because God descends from unthinkable heights of His being and dwells with us, we can be assured that He knows the future of each one of us.

Nothing is new to God and nothing is old. God is "vexed" by the "trifling cares" of the world in the same way an unkempt college student is bothered by an errant pair of dirty socks on his bedroom floor.

For His grandeur in infinitude and eternality, all creation has ample reason to praise and fear our great God.