What does Psalm 145 teach us about what it means to pray, -Thine is the Kingdom------Not only does Psalm 145 has an alphabetical structure - but within that acrostic, there is also a secondary pattern.----First, the Psalmist says that I will bless you. Then, the Psalmist says that your works and your saints will bless you.----And within each of these two sections, there is an initial focus on God's greatness - followed by a focus on God's goodness.----We often think of -great- as the superlative of -good.- How ya doin- I'm doing good. No, I'm doing great-----But that is not how -good- and -great- relate to each other. Goodness is a moral quality - a virtue. The one who does good is one who is characterized by kindness, mercy, righteousness. You don't have to be -great- to be good.----Greatness is not so much a moral quality as it is about status. The one does great things is one who accomplishes mighty deeds, wondrous works. And in the same way that you don't have to be -great- to be good - you also don't have to be -good- to be great. ----Can you think of someone who accomplished greatness without being good- Nebuchadnezzar is an obvious example from Bible history- There are plenty of examples from the world of sports, politics, entertainment - people who achieved greatness - but who were moral disasters-----In the same way, we all know people who are good - and who do good - but they will never amount to anything in world history. They will not achieve any mighty deeds - any wondrous works.----Psalm 145 wants us to see that the intersection of goodness and greatness is found first and foremost in God himself--

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