“My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is
steadfast; I will sing and make music. I
will praise You, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of You among the
peoples. For great is Your love,
reaching to the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let
Your glory be over all the earth.” (Psalm 58, 7, 9>11)
This has been one of my favorite passages
for decades. I just can’t read it
without sensing the very Presence of God and praising Him for His love,
faithfulness and majesty! Knowing that
the Creator of the universe, the Alpha and Omega, the great I Am, the Mighty
God…made me…loves me...saved me…and holds me…is absolutely overwhelming! It
goes way beyond words…
How do we respond to a loving, faithful and
incredible God? I just don’t know how to
ever praise Him enough. I am grateful,
humbled, amazed and moved beyond words for all He is, all He has done and all
that He promises us because of His tremendous love for us. But how do I ever thank Him, praise Him,
honor Him and glorify Him…enough?
Of course, I realize I can never do
enough. But what do I do to express my
gratitude? Well…I can pray…conversing
with Him all day long in every situation.
Some of my best memories during my college years include driving back
and forth from KY to VA and talking to Him. During the twenty-five mile trip
one way to the bank where I worked back home, I loved spending time with Him…listening,
talking, singing, thinking and simply sharing time with Him. I believe He loves it when we simply talk to
Him…like He is right there beside us.
After all, He is.
I can praise Him. Of course, this involves singing to Him in
Church services…but it goes so much further than that. I can adore Him, lifting my heart, mind,
voice and being to Him, anytime…day or night.
I can write to Him, for Him, about Him and because of Him. I can play piano to Him, for Him and with
Him. (That’s a little secret I will
share. Before I ever play any song, I always
dedicate each note, word and moment to Him before I begin.) I love singing to Him…publicly, privately and
even silently. Again, it’s incomplete if
it isn’t lifted entirely to Him.
I have noticed something, though, about
praising Him. I love it when we are in a
Church service and I see others lifting themselves collectively in worship to
Him! And yet…that made me think….intensely. I am certainly supportive of anyone who lifts
their voices, hearts, minds and hands to Him!
I believe God is very pleased when we honor Him with our entire
being. He is worthy of our praise…continually
and completely.
But as I consider the Church body lifting praise
to Him, it occurred to me that perhaps we need to be reminded of another
aspect. How can we lift ourselves to Him
without hearing His call to share with others for Him? Just as hands are lifted up to Him, they
should be extended outward to others before they are lowered back to our own
selves.
I am no scholar. I am no expert. But I do believe it is obvious that what we
do for others is an incredible form of praise to Him. As it used to be said in college, “we have to
walk the walk and not just talk the talk.”
If we truly praise Him, it must go beyond words. It requires action…as in the example of the
Good Samaritan or the passage in James 2: 14>17 regarding someone with a
need being told “Go, I wish you well, keep warm and well fed, but does nothing
about his physical needs, what good is it?”
I believe one of the highest forms of praise to God is when we honor Him
by sharing His love with others…continually.
I love PRAYING to Him. It is essential and it is an incredible
opportunity we should never take for granted.
I love PRAISING Him…daily...and not just on weekends with a Church
family. But I also love sharing Him with
others who are so PRECIOUS in His sight.
There are countless hurting hearts, wounded lives and shattered souls…who
live with us, work beside us, sit next to us in Church services, watch us from
the streets, internet, next door or simply call us their friends. They notice our fancy words, our bold claims,
our public actions…but they will always remember how we treat them..daily. I wonder…do we praise Him when we hear of
their brokenness…or their losses…or their illness…or their burdens? Or are we too busy “serving Him” that we don’t
have time to really share Him…with precious, valuable, hurting people?
Psalm 113: 3 says “From the rising of the
sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.” May we praise Him each moment, every day,
continually, in prayer with Him, praise to Him and with precious others for Him!
♥~thl
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