Sunday, December 22, 2013

Praise God With A Praise Sandwich


Psalm 31:1, 5, and 24 - To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. In You, O Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be ashamed; Deliver me in Your righteousness.

Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.

Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the Lord.

 

One second David is praising God and telling him he trusts him more than anything…the next he is venting the deep sadness that creeps into his heart.  Then after he has vented to God the deepest hurts in his soul…his finishes his prayer with more one praise. His wise words never cease to amaze me…his heart so full of confusion….and deep pain…yet he uses words that show his trust is fully in God…no matter what.

 

I love his concept of venting to God in this Psalm…he places his vent between two times of praise...a praise sandwich I will call it. If you really think about it …his ‘praise sandwich’ shows a level of trust most of us never reach while we live on this earth. He comes to God to purely worship and praise him for who he is…even using the same words Jesus did on the cross to place his entire life in God’s hands.

 

His vent was just a way to unload the pain and heaviness of his burdens…he knew in his heart that God had it all under control…but putting his pain into words made it more real for him…. it made it easier for him to identify what he was letting go of…to completely let go of what was bothering his spirit.

 

I will admit that I have not got a clue what complete trust is. I strive for it…but know in my heart that I am so very far away from really ‘getting’ the deeper meaning that David…and Jesus….and Stephen (read Acts 7:59) understood in their hearts when they “committed their entire spirits” to God’s hands. So I will begin to use David’s praise sandwich to keep showing God I am trying.

 

Father…thank you for teaching me yet another lesson in your true meaning of trust.  Help me Lord to begin to praise you more than I vent my pain….and always end my prayers wit a praise of who you are and what you have done to save me. Show me how to deepen my understanding of your love for others….so that I can begin to grasp what you really mean by trust.  I place my full life in your hands…even though I don’t really know what is coming next.   I know in my heart it will be better than anything I have ever experienced up to this day.  Amen.

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