Saturday, July 20, 2013

Sing A Song Of Praise To God In Your Heart


1 Chronicles 16:7-11 - That day David first committed to Asaph and his associates this psalm of thanks to the LORD:  Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.  Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.  Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.  Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.

 

The Ark was safely home….resting under the tent David had dedicated to house it.  He assigned a high priest to be in charge of the sacrifices that would be brought…and musicians to continually sing God’s praise.  Then he wrote a song…a song of thanks...and praise…a song that called for all to remember the wonderful attributes of the God they served…a song that called for them to always look to God for strength in the future.

 

It is good advice…to give God praise.  We need to praise him for the good things he blesses us with daily…and the storms he leads us through.  We need to thank him in all that we do…large or small….good or bad…miraculous or simple.  We need to be telling everyone around us of the great things he had done for us…singing his praise….and glorying in his holiness.

 

And how could it ever be a bad thing to seek the Lord…or look to him for strength.  I just can’t imagine life without God…without seeking his direction in the Bible each night…and lifting my head to spend some time meditating on what I read…to ask God how it applies to my life…to form a simple prayer each morning to ask his help throughout the day.

 

I can tell you my life without him was markedly different…I knew of him…and was taught some of the great stories in his book. But I sure didn’t have a passion to study or learn it for myself.  My life was a continual confusion of good and bad…my prayers were lifted in irregular moments of deepest need…and my heart was as fickle as they come.  I lived for me…selfishly…thinking I deserved good things simply because I claimed to be his child…complaining every moment things did not work out in my favor.

 

Now I realize that I deserve absolutely nothing…I am just a simple woman…a sinner…who struggles every day to keep her heart where it belongs.  I deserved death for my sins…but God granted me a grand pardon…even offering his own son to die in my place.  I am nothing without his great mercy …he is my everything…the only one who deserves any praise.

 

Everything that God drops in my lap as a blessing is a great gift….that simply shows his great love for me.  And anything that happens ...that I might perceive as bad… is either a test…or a training session to teach me something new about God’s character…that he is trying to build inside my heart.  God is good…all the time…all the time …God is good.  In the bright sunshine he is easy to see…but hidden by the darkness of satan we must focus a little harder to see his glory.

 

Father…thank you for this song that David wrote to try and express his deep love for you.  Help me to write a song in my heart to praise you more often…to show you how much I appreciate all the things you have done for me. Help my song bring to my heart the need to seek you all day long…to help me keep the sky bright with your love…so satan can not succeed in hiding you from me any more. Amen.

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