ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 FALAITE SIULAI 31, 2026

‘AISEA 40-43; LOMA 11:33-36

Nothing in heaven or on earth compares to the infinitely glorious greatness of our Lord.

‘Oku ‘ikai ha me’a ‘i langi pe ‘i mamani ‘e fakatataua ki he naunau kafakafa mo lau’itaniti ‘o hotau ‘Otua.

I think the word great has lost much of its meaning. We talk about a great piece of cake. We celebrate a great pair of shoes. We talk about how great a game was. We tell people we had a great vacation. But true and incomparable greatness belongs only to the Lord. Attempting to capture the grandeur and greatness of  the Lord, Isaiah stretches the boundaries of language and word pictures. Even under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Isaiah seems to understand that there is no way to capture the greatness of our God inside the limits of human language. 

Our Lord's infinite greatness cannot adequately be described or understood. And so Isaiah offers a true but limited portrait:

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

and marked off the heavens with a span,

enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure

and weighed the mountains in scales

and the hills in a balance?

Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD,

or what man shows him his counsel?

Whom did he consult,

and who made him understand?

Who taught him the path of justice,

and taught him knowledge,

and showed him the way of understanding?

Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

and are accounted as the dust on the scales;

behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

All the nations are as nothing before him,

they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

To whom then will you liken God,

or what likeness compare with him?

An idol! A craftsman casts it,

and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

and casts for it silver chains.

He who is too impoverished for an offering

chooses wood that will not rot;

he seeks out a skillful craftsman

to set up an idol that will not move..

To whom then will you compare me,

that I should be like him? says the Holy One. (Isa. 40:12-20, 25)

This description of the glorious greatness of our Lord is in the Bible so that everyone reading it will know with certainty that placing your heart and life in his almighty hands is never risky. Because he is this great, God is able to keep every one of his promises and to push his redemptive plan to its final and glorious conclusion.

Because this is true, Isaiah ends his "God is great" poem with these lines:

He gives power to the faint,

and to him who has no might he increases strength.

Even youths shall faint and be weary,

and young men shall fall exhausted;

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint. (Isa. 40:29-31)

In his greatness, God has more than enough power to meet you in your weakness and to empower you to be what he has redeemed you to be and to do what he has redeemed you to do.