“Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified” (Psalm 70:4).

Here is a great verse to follow for those who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity. We live in a day when people tend to be hero worshipers on a vast scale. Multitudes magnify some charismatic political leader and follow him even to the death. Others magnify great athletes, or rock singers, or movie stars, almost to the point of worship.

It is appropriate to give honor where honor is due, of course. Nevertheless, it is dangerous to overly magnify any man or woman, for it is God who has given them their abilities and opportunities. These should all be used for Him, and He should receive the praise.

God has told us clearly what and whom we should magnify. The principle is that we should only magnify what He has magnified. For one thing, “He will magnify the law, and make it honorable” (Isaiah 42:21). There may be a temptation, in this age of grace, to play down the importance and validity of God’s law, but He desires us, rather, to magnify it.

This, in fact, is true of the whole Bible: “For thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name” (Psalm 138:2). Some liberals have accused Bible-believing Christians of putting the Bible on too high a pedestal, but this is impossible! We could never magnify God’s word as much as does God Himself. We, therefore, magnify the Lord when we magnify His word. It is noteworthy that the glorious exhortation of our text verse is repeated verbatim from Psalm 40:16, except that “Let God be magnified” is replaced by “The LORD be magnified.” Therefore, says David: “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together” (Psalm 34:3). HMM