Praise the LORD!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.—Psalm 147:1
Truly there is nothing better we can do with our hearts and voices than sing praises to our great God! As I read through Psalm 147 this morning my inner man was filled with gratitude. My gracious Jehovah cares for the unimportant, the forgotten and the sorrowing. This Psalm, like the others in this section of the book, begins and ends with an exhortation to praise our Beloved! The rest of the Psalm is devoted to doing just that.
Praise the Lord!
He gathers the outcasts...
He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds...
He is great and abundant in power...
His understanding cannot be measured...Our God “gets” us!...
He lifts up the humble...
He casts the wicked to the ground...
He prepares rain for the earth...
He makes the grass grow...
He feeds both beast and bird...
He takes pleasure in those that fear Him...
In those that hope in His steadfast love...
He protects us and blesses our children within...
He gives us peace within our borders...
He fills us with good things...
He sovereignty oversees nature... the normal and the abnormal...
He has given us His word...
He knows those who are His...like Israel we are also now His special possession..
Praise the Lord!
Beloved...Praise is good because it is right...God IS good and His steadfast love toward us never ceases. Praise is good because it is an acceptable sacrifice to God. Praise is good because it helps us! It rights our heart. It reminds us that our God can be trusted. He IS faithful. His gifts to us are as relentless as the lapping of the waves at the seashore. Praise is good because as it helps our heart, it also helps the hearts of those around us that hear. We owe EVERYTHING to our God...all that we are and all that we have...even to the very breath in our lungs. We cannot give our God anything for all His goodness and favor toward us, but we can, by His grace, lift up our voices to Him daily in songs of praise.
Father
Forgive me! I want the background melody of my life to be praise, but so often it is one of complaint. By Your Spirit who dwells within me, open my mouth in the morning with praise and overflow my heart in the evening with the thanksgivings and graces of the day. May my days, Father, be replete with songs of Your praise...and when they are not...convict me and tune my heart to once again, sing Your grace.
Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre! (Psalms 147:7, ESV)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.—Colossians 3:16-17
