Divine Priority in a Distracted World
Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise. — Psalm 145:3
Today's Scripture
Psalm 145:1-8
Today's Insights
In Psalm 145, King David glorifies the name and character of God, declaring Him "worthy of praise" (verse 3). He exalts God's mighty acts, glorious splendor, wonderful works, awesome deeds, abundant goodness, and righteousness (verses 4-7). In verse 8, David lists divine attributes that appear repeatedly throughout the Old Testament: "The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love" (see Exodus 34:6; 2 Chronicles 30:9; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 86:15; 103:8; 111:4; 112:4; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). David concludes his psalm with the declaration, "I will praise the Lord, and may everyone on earth bless his holy name forever and ever" (Psalm 145:21 NLT). Scripture promises that one day, "every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them" will join together in praise "to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb" (Revelation 5:13). Our worship today anticipates this glorious future reality!
Today's Devotional
The typical person checks their phone approximately 150 times daily. Let that statistic sink in for a moment. Something has captured our collective attention, and it may not be serving our best interests. Tristan Harris, a former tech industry insider, believes this. He appears in a documentary featuring prominent technology pioneers who helped create our social media landscape. Rather than celebrating these innovations, however, their voices now sound a warning, calling our current reality (and the film) The Social Dilemma. "We're the product. Our attention is the product being sold to advertisers." We direct our attention toward what we consider valuable or worthy. And in a profound sense, what consistently captures our attention often becomes what we worship.
The word dilemma signifies a situation requiring a choice between alternatives. Perhaps surprisingly, we face such a dilemma in our spiritual lives—a choice we must make daily: Who or what will receive my attention? Put differently, Who or what will I worship? The psalmist clearly made his decision: "Every day I will praise you [God] and extol your name for ever and ever" (Psalm 145:2). The following verse reveals his reasoning: "Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom" (verse 3).
The psalmist recognized that nothing compares to God's greatness, so he focused his attention there. God alone deserves our highest praise and deepest devotion.
Prophetic Significance
The battle for our attention described in Psalm 145 carries profound prophetic implications for believers living in these last days. David's determined focus on God amid competing distractions foreshadows the final great spiritual conflict described in Revelation, where humanity must choose between worshiping the Creator or the created. This psalm prophetically anticipates a time when technological marvels would become potential idols, drawing hearts away from true worship. The psalmist's declaration that "one generation shall commend your works to another" (verse 4) reveals God's prophetic strategy for sustaining faithful worship across generations increasingly bombarded by digital distraction. Just as ancient Israel struggled between Yahweh and Baal worship, today's attention economy represents the modern battlefield for spiritual allegiance. Those who maintain undivided attention on God's greatness participate in a prophetic resistance movement that anticipates the coming age when every distraction will fall away and all creation will join in unhindered worship before the throne (Revelation 7:9-12), fulfilling David's prophetic vision of universal praise.
Reflect & Pray
In contrast to time for praying or reading Scripture, what vies for your attention?
What changes can you make to keep technology from becoming an idol?
Dear God, You alone are worthy of my praise. Nothing compares to You.