God Is Great (and so are Underoos)

For a few years now we’ve been singing a familiar song in church services: “How Great is Our God.” Recently, I’ve begun to view this question in a completely new light.

As a youngster, I knew God was great, but He was great because He created the earth, and the animals, and because he helped a boy named David kill a giant with a sling. Then he helped David chop his head off (the best part of the story). God was great because he enabled some dude in Japan to create Nintendo just for me. He was great because somehow, every time I opened my underwear drawer, I found clean Superman Underoos in there. I didn’t know how, I just assumed it was a gift from God (both the cleanliness of the Underoos, and the Underoos themselves).

As a young adult, God was great for new reasons. He was great because every time I reached the last pack of Ramen Noodles in my dorm room, He somehow multiplied the Ramen Noodles as if they were bread and fish. He was great because He helped me meet the woman of my dreams, and He convinced her to say “I do”–to ME! He was great because He was putting my life into motion. Then, the kids came along, and I saw His greatness in new and even more glorious ways, as it’s reflected daily in the smiles, laughter, and hugs of my children. And now my son gets to wear the super cool Underoos.

But even more recently, I’ve asked “How great is our God” for brand new reasons.

I see tsunamis striking various places, wiping out forests, trees, and cities like they are mere twigs and I ask “How great is our God?”

I experience a tornado ripping the roof off of a building a mere 200 feet from where my entire family sits huddled in a closet, and I ask “How great is our God?”

I see major floods striking the town I was born in, flooding thousands of acres, homes, buildings, and churches, and I ask “How great is our God?”

I see cracks in the Washington Monument caused by an extremely rare but violent earthquake that struck our nation’s capital, and I ask “How great is our God?”

I hear this thunderstorm roll over my home as I write, and the lightning flashes through the windows while the thunder rattles the walls, and I ask “How great is our God?”

I don’t like the latter half of this post as much as the first half. The first half is all about blessings, and goodness, and provision of God through clean Underoos, while the second half is all about… well… you tell me. But it all points me to one truth:

GOD. IS. GREAT.

There can be no doubt, and I believe it has helped me come to the wisdom of Qoheleth (aka, Solomon) in Ecclesiastes: In the end, all I can do is fear Him, and keep His commandments, and thank Him for the Underoos (which my son and I do daily).

His greatness is shown not only in the blessings of life, but also in the power of nature. And while one thrills me to no end, and the other scares the beejeezes (the plural of beejeeze) out of me, they both lead me to the same conclusion.

God is great.

How great? Indescribably great.

But that’s another song altogether.

One Reply to “God Is Great (and so are Underoos)”

  1. It is a fact we should never lose sight of – God is great, not because of our circumstances good or bad. God is great because He is God – yesterday, today, and tomorrow; and He always will be God. Blessed to have and know a living God who is great!

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