This psalm creates for us a balancing act- the nearness and farness of God. On the one hand, God is permanently near to us, whether in the person of the Holy Spirit or the promise that Jesus would be with us to the end of the age. On the other hand, God is also greater than our universe and is uniquely here and uniquely in another galaxy. Sometimes we falter on either side of this balancing act.
At times, our God is only near. And only near to us. This is the God "in a box" who is controllable, containable and is only truly interested in people "just like me." The end of the radically near God is idolatry. This is a God who, like Thomas Jefferson's god, is made up of only our favorite parts of the Bible. The radically near god fits into political ideology, economic theory, philosophy or other structures of thinking. This god is indeed too small, and hardly worthy of our praise. In fact, this god should be praising us that we have created such a good box.
On the other hand, sometimes our God is only far. God is too distant to deal with our seemingly insignificant lives. This god is the god of the history books, or the deist god who set up a marvelous creation and then is just watching. This god is the god of Keanu Reeve's character Constantine (from the film of the same name): "God is just a kid with an ant farm." This god is just an observer, and I would argue, not worthy of worship. The passive observer who watches suffering and untold pain is fine, but not worthy of worship.
Indeed, the God of this psalm (and the story of Scripture) is greater than both of these two idols. This is the God who is greater than creation and yet enters into it, even radically in the person of Jesus Christ. This God lifts people and continues to intervene. This God is worthy of praise. Amen.
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