Sirach 43:17-33: a reflection

17The voice of his thunder rebukes the earth. So does the northern storm and the whirlwind. Like birds flying down, he sprinkles the snow. It falls down like the lighting of locusts. 18The eye is dazzled at the beauty of its whiteness. The heart is amazed as it falls. 19He also pours out frost on the earth like salt. When it is freezes, it has points like thorns. 20The cold north wind blows and ice freezes on the water. It settles on every pool of water. The water puts it on like it was a breastplate. 21It will devour the mountains, burn up the wilderness, and consume the green grass like fire. 22A mist coming speedily heals all things. A dew coming after heat brings cheerfulness. 23By his counsel, he has calmed the deep and planted islands in it. 24Those who sail on the sea tell of its dangers. We marvel when we hear it with our ears. 25There are also those strange and wondrous works in it— variety of all that has life and the huge creatures of the sea. 26Because of him, his messengers succeed. By his word, all things hold together. 27We may say many things, but couldn’t say enough. The summary of our words is, “He is everything!” 28How could we have strength to glorify him? For he is himself the greater than all his works. 29The Lord is awesome and exceedingly great! His power is marvelous! 30Glorify the Lord and exalt him as much as you can! For even yet, he will surpass that. When you exalt him, summon your full strength. Don’t be weary, because you can’t praise him enough. 31Who has seen him, that he may describe him? Who can magnify him as he is? 32Many things greater than these are hidden, for we have seen just a few of his works. 33For the Lord made all things. He gave wisdom to the godly.

This passage soars in praise of God's greatness displayed in creation, the snow and frost, the roaring sea and its wondrous creatures, the whole vast and intricate world, and then confesses the limits of all such praise. We could say much more and still fall short, it admits; the sum of our words is, He is everything. However much we exalt him, he surpasses it: When you exalt him, summon all your strength, and do not grow weary, for you cannot praise him enough. We have seen but a few of his works; many greater things remain hidden.

Notice the humility at the heart of this praise. The passage does not pretend to have captured God's greatness; it confesses that God exceeds all our praise, that our words fall short, that we have glimpsed only a fraction of his works. He is greater than everything he has made, and however fully we exalt him, he surpasses even that. Praise, at its truest, ends not in a sense of having said enough, but in wonder at how much more there is.

That is a healthy corrective and a call to worship. We can domesticate God, imagine we have him figured out, reduce him to what we can grasp and describe. But God's greatness exceeds all our understanding and all our praise; we have seen only a few of his works. Let that draw you to worship, not with a sense that you have done him justice, but with wonder at a greatness beyond your capacity to exhaust. Exalt God with all your strength, knowing you can never praise him enough, and let the limits of your praise become themselves an act of worship, a bowing before a greatness beyond all telling.

Lord, your greatness fills creation, the snow and the sea and all its wonders, and yet all our praise falls short; you are greater than everything you have made, and however fully we exalt you, you surpass even that. Keep me from domesticating you, from imagining I have you figured out, from reducing you to what I can grasp. I have seen only a few of your works; help me worship you not with a sense that I have done you justice, but with wonder at a greatness beyond my capacity to exhaust. Let me exalt you with all my strength, knowing I can never praise you enough. And let the very limits of my praise become worship, as I bow before a greatness beyond all telling. He is everything; be exalted, Lord.