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In our worship to God many times we utter phrases like "God I magnify you" or "God be magnified". I used to wonder, is God really magnified by saying those words? How can we really magnify God or have him magnified?

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  • as quick thought - this is a recurrent theme throughout the Psalms
    – warren
    Commented Jul 23, 2012 at 13:48
  • This question was part of our self-evaluation and Wikis suggested that the title be changed. Did I mess up your question? Is this title in keeping with what you intended to ask?
    – Jon Ericson
    Commented Sep 6, 2012 at 19:28
  • "Stock Worship"? I don't even know what it means. Google couldn't help too. Maybe we should remove the "Stock" to keep it simple english :)
    – tunmise fashipe
    Commented Sep 6, 2012 at 20:47
  • @tunmisefashipe - Look up "stock phrases". "Stock worship phrases" means stock phrases that relate to worship. en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stock_phrase
    – David Stratton
    Commented Sep 6, 2012 at 22:30

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Clearly, those phrases can't mean that we have the ability to alter God in any way. I don't think that the definition of "magnify God" in these phrases means to actually make God "bigger" or "greater". I understand them to mean "Make God more prominent in my life, our culture, etc."

Magnification doesn't make objects bigger, it alters our perception of an object, making it appear bigger to us.

Similarly, magnifying God doesn't make Him bigger, it means He becomes more prominent to us.

The phrase "God, I magnify you" simply means "I am making you greater (more important) in my life, and putting you first, because you are my focus and priority."

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    This means the only way God is not magnified by those words is when they don't come from our hearts - lip service
    – tunmise fashipe
    Commented Jul 23, 2012 at 15:20
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    And it's sad how often such things are just lip service.
    – David Stratton
    Commented Jul 25, 2012 at 5:18
  • Reading thiis answer and my comment again, I am touched, tears in my eyes. I/We have starved God of quality/true worship
    – tunmise fashipe
    Commented Jun 7, 2014 at 14:41
  • So what you are doing is affirming your faith and pledging to obey God more from here on
    – One Face
    Commented Jan 18, 2015 at 12:03
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They're probably just taking this verse literally:

Psalm 70:4 KJV 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".

Though more modern translations usually replace "Let God be magnified" with "God is great!". It's simply a statement of praise meant to worship the Lord.

So then your question, are we really magnifying God by saying these things? If by magnifying you mean worshiping then, if our hearts are sincere, yes we are! But if you mean are we literally magnifying him, making him bigger, stronger, etc... then most certainly not. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

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There are not enough words to describe the greatness of God. When we say "God be magnified" we are saying we are focusing on Him and only Him in our moment of worship. We are bringing Him to the fore front of our consciousness making everything in our life less significant at the time of worship.

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    Welcome Mary! I'm glad that you decided to answer this question and I find your answer very interesting. With that said, this site is different from other sites as we focus on more scholarly answers with references to back up our assertions. Please consider reviewing the FAQ
    – The Freemason
    Commented Jun 6, 2014 at 18:29
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What utter from our lips come from our heart. When we say God be magnify ,your whole being, in whatever you say or do you do it all in the name of Jesus.

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