Frustrated, I pulled open my desk drawer and grabbed a relic belonging to my father. Even with my glasses on, I couldn’t read the tiny print.
Years ago, I’d laughed while watching Dad use this very item. Now, here I was, clearly following in his footsteps as I reached for his old magnifying glass!
Curious, I discovered the magnifying glass is one of the oldest optical devices known to humanity. Thousands of years ago, people used pieces of crystal or other transparent materials to help them see small objects more clearly.
Centuries later, Roger Bacon, a Franciscan friar and scholar in England, helped advance the use of lenses for magnification and vision correction.
Over time, the word magnify came to mean making something appear larger or increasing its size or importance. But there’s another meaning I love: to praise highly, glorify, and exalt. In Scripture, to magnify the Lord is to honor Him and proclaim His greatness.
Deuteronomy 6:12–13 warns God’s people not to forget the Lord who rescued them from slavery in Egypt. Instead, they were to honor Him, worship Him alone, and remain faithful to Him. In other words, they were to keep God at the center of their lives and give Him the honor He deserves.
Psalm 145 echoes this beautiful message:
“Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.”
Despite the frustration of struggling to see clearly with my physical eyes, the eyes of my soul have been wide open! With hands raised in gratitude, I’ve been embracing the beautiful message of today’s song.
The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir’s mesmerizing rendition of Psalm 34 lifts our hearts as it magnifies the Lord and proclaims His greatness.
“I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.”
And then comes this invitation: “Taste and see that the LORD is good.”
Today, let’s put the power of 10X into practice—not by making God bigger, because His greatness is beyond measure, but by making Him bigger in our hearts, our words, and our daily lives.
What if we looked at our circumstances through the magnifying glass of God’s goodness rather than the lens of our worries?
May we magnify the Lord in all we do, allowing others to see His love, experience His goodness, and recognize His greatness through us.
So today, raise your eyes, lift your heart, and let the power of 10X flow through your life. May God be magnified in all you see, all you say, and all you do!
