No one who was great in the world will be forgotten, but everyone was great in his own way, and everyone in proportion to the greatness of that whichhe loved. He who loved himself became great by virtue of himself, and he who loved other men became great by his devotedness, but he who loved God became the greatest of all. Everyone shall be remembered, but everyone became great in proportion to his expectancy. One became great by expecting the possible, another by expecting the eternal; but he who expected the impossible became the greatest of all. Everyone shall be remembered, but everyone was great wholly in proportion to the magnitude of that with which he struggled. For he who struggled with the world became great by conquering the world, and he who struggled with himself became great by conquering himself, but he who struggled with God became the greatest of all. Thus did they struggle in the world, man against man, one against thousands, but he who struggled with God was the greatest of all. Thus did they struggle on earth: there was one who conquered everything by his power, and there was one who conquered God by his powerlessness. There was one who relied upon himself and gained everything; there was one who in the security of his own strength sacrificed everything; but the one who believed God was the greatest of all. There was one who was great by virture of his power, and one who was great by virtue of his wisdom, and one who was great by virtue of his hope, and one who was great by virtue of his love, but Abraham was the greatest of all, great by that power whose strength is powerlessness, great by that wisdom whose secret is foolishness, great by that hope whose form is madness, great by the love that is hatred to oneself. -> Kierkegaard, Fear and Trembling

It is a tragic limitation of human language and human understanding that we must use the same word to mean different things. "That was a great meal." "He's a great guy." "We have a great God." The greatness of a thing is on a different scale than the greatness of a person, and the greatness of God is completely unique. Humans can be called great by other humans, but this label of greatness is only meaningfull to other humans. It is like a group of ants standing around congratulating each other on constructing a great hill of dirt. A person with a shovel could come along, and in just a moment, utterly demolish their wondrous achievement. So it is with human greatness and God.

The only was to transcend human thinking and human greatness is to embrace the Greatness of God. 'He who loved God became the greatest of all.' There is only a little bit of value in our human love, but when God is the object of our love, God responds and causes Greatness.

'He who expected the impossible became the greatest of all.' It is impossible to believe that the big God cares about the small us. (That must be the understatement of the millenium to say that God is big.) But we must have this expectation. We can come boldly, and believe that God will hear and answer.

'He who struggled with God became the greatest of all.' This is a difficult section to understand. I don't think this is a struggle against God, but more of a struggle to deal with what God demands. To take up your cross and give your life away is hard to accept. Even Jesus struggled with God over what was placed before him. The only was to be victorious in this struggle is complete powerlessness, brokenness, and absolute surrender.

The only way for us to be powerful is rely on God's Strength in our powerlessness. The only way for us to be wise is to rely on God's Wisdom in our foolishness. The only hope we have is to renounce our own rational hope for the future and trust completely in God's Faithfulness. The only love we have is to refuse to consider ourselves and glory in God's Love.

'Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.' God is so far above us. Our understanding is so incredibly shallow. But we cannot let this be a hindrance. The Lord is great and must be praised. The universe declares his majesty; the rocks cry out. How can we keep silent? 'My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.'