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"Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together.” Psalm 34:3

Magnify means to make something appear larger than it is. It also means to extol or glorify. When I think about magnifying the Lord, I think about a magnifying glass.  We use a magnifying glass in order to see something better, to see details. The magnifying glass does not change the actual image but rather it makes it clearer to us. The “thing” that you are looking at actually does not change in size.

What changes is how you see it.

In Psalm 69:30 David says, “I will magnify God with thanksgiving.” The word "magnify" can be used in two different senses. It can mean to make something appear greater than it is, or it can mean to make something that may seem small or insignificant appear to be as great as it really is.

For example, this is what a telescope helps us begin to do with the magnificent universe. A telescope is an optical instrument for making distant objects appear larger and therefore nearer. If you’re viewing the moon from earth, it just looks like a circle in the sky. But when you view it through a telescope, you see all the details and you can see how big it really is. The size of the moon hasn’t changed, but the way we view it has.

When David says, "I will magnify God with thanksgiving," he does not mean: "I will make a small God look bigger than he is. He means: I will make a big God begin to look as big as he actually is. There is nothing and no one superior to God. And so the calling of those who love God is to make His greatness begin to look as great as it really is.

What you magnify, you are surrounded by. What are you magnifying today? Magnify the Lord no matter what, in joy and in sorrow. Instead of being overwhelmed with life and its issues, allow God to overwhelm you with His presence and perspective.