Good morning! Today’s readings speak a great deal about praising God, but there are some other thoughts that pop up as well.
Psalm 134 reminds me that people tended to the temple both day and night. There wasn’t a time when the temple was unoccupied, or idle. Youngsville FMC was coined by one of our members as “the church that never sleeps”. That doesn’t mean everyone goes to every event, but rather that there is always some group using the church, serving, worshiping, fellowshipping, cleaning, whatever. The Lord doesn’t sleep, which means there are 24 potential ministry hours in every day. True, no one person (especially the Pastor)! can be here for that amount of time, but it is possible when many different people are all serving together.
Psalm 146. God keeps every promise forever (vs 6). It kind of makes you wonder what God has promised, doesn’t it? I tried a quick Google search but there were so many examples of promises that I couldn’t list them all. Here’s a few: He promised to supply all our needs, that we wouldn’t have to surrender to temptation, that His grace would be sufficient for us, that we can be forgiven of our sins if we confess them, that those who repent will inherit eternal life in heaven, that there will be a torturous second death for all who don’t accept Him as Lord. He also promises to never leave or forsake us, and He promises to give us words to speak and abilities to use when we need them for Kingdom work.
As I read Psalm 147 I caught the word “exiles” and it started me thinking about people returning. It has been said that in heaven humans will sing songs that angels cannot sing, because we have had experiences that angels haven’t had. We have sinned and been forgiven, and we know what it’s like to be exiled, and to return. “Those who have been forgiven much love more deeply” The truth is, we have all been forgiven much, but we don’t all recognize it. Consider the awesome power of God, who keeps the earth in orbit, sustains the sun as well as planets we don’t even know exist…and still takes time to feed hungry baby birds. Do you think they would find food without God’s involvement? They wouldn’t survive….the devil would see to that. The devil would destroy anything that God creates, just to see it burn….that’s how jealous and corrupted his character has become. Consider that you and I are just like those small birds, and yet God takes time to bless our feeble efforts with success. There is no success without God, and there is no enjoying life without Him either. At the time this psalm was written the author believed that God hadn’t blessed any other nations in the same way as He had blessed Israel. While that’s true (because Jesus was Jewish) God has proven since this writing that He is responsible for all blessings, in every nation and in every home, and in every heart. If it’s good, then it came from God. You are worthy to be praised, Lord!
Psalm 148-150
There are so many examples of what we can praise God for, (creation, sustaining, interaction, planning, etc) and how we can praise Him.(muscial instruments, voices, actions, etc) A person could spend a lifetime finding ways to praise all that we know of God. In fact, we will probably ave that exact job in heaven. There will be so much to praise there, that we won’t be able to contain or express it fully. We will spend an eternity singing, rejoicing, praising and being delighted in God’s presence. There simply aren’t words to adequately express how wonderful heaven will be. A friend told me yesterday that every day he writes down 5 things he is thankful for, and he has been doing this for years. What a great way to praise the Lord!
Today I am thankful for grandchildren, birds, changing weather, a loving wife and ministry partners. Of course I could go on and on….but that’s the point, isn’t it? What would happen to us spiritually if we thanked God for 5 things every day? What if we wrote them down, so that we weren’t simply repeating the same 5 things all the time? Would it change our character in a good way?
How long would it take to do that every day? Would it be worth it?
One final quick note….I don’t want to leave this passage without making this comment:
Psalm 149 mentions using the sword and capturing or chaining other nations that don’t serve the Lord. While this was David’s mission, Jesus clearly demonstrated that it isn’t ours. The battle for Christianity has been fought and won. Jesus was born of the line of David, the Israelites were not extinguished before the Savior was born as prophesied. In fact, because Jesus came from that line, they will never be completely destroyed. But the time for war on behalf of Christianity is over. Now is the time for loving others, turning the other cheek, walking the second mile, etc. There will be another battle, but in that battle Christ himself will lead the charge, and the saints will be victorious once and for all.
Don’t be deceived into thinking that you need to resort to violence to protect or preserve Christianity. Christianity doesn’t need to be protected. Now, there may be other reasons to go to war…but not to defend the faith. God is quite capable to doing that Himself.
Faithfully,
PR