PRAISING GOD FOREVER BEGINS WITH ME!

Have you stopped to think of the offense that it is to God when we do not acknowledge His character, His loving care, and His gracious attention to our needs? How ungrateful do we prove to be, and how nearsighted we are, when our focus is only upon the temporal and not on the eternal.

Psalm 22:22-31

22 I will tell of your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

23 You who fear the Lord, praise him!

All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,

and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

24 For he has not despised or abhorred

the affliction of the afflicted,

and he has not hidden his face from him,

but has heard, when he cried to him.

25 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;

my vows I will perform before those who fear him.

26 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;

those who seek him shall praise the Lord!

May your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth shall remember

and turn to the Lord,

and all the families of the nations

shall worship before you.

28 For kingship belongs to the Lord,

and he rules over the nations.

29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;

before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,

even the one who could not keep himself alive.

30 Posterity shall serve him;

it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;

31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,

that he has done it.

David started this psalm, crying out to God. He did not try to hide or minimize his distress. He felt abandoned, but never lost sight of God. He pleaded with his Lord to be close to him. His enemies were real, the pain was overwhelming and the outcome seemed bleak. But David never lost view of his dependence on God. He did not go elsewhere for help.

As we have seen, there are clear references to Jesus Christ. He was truly abandoned for a time by His Father. He truly had to bear the wrath of the Father and the scorn and humiliation of men. Through all of that, Jesus never lost sight of the reason it was planned before the foundation of the world for Him to suffer in this atrocious way.

David is now praising God in the midst of the nation. The logical and expected end has come to pass. All those who depend on God and wait upon Him will see His hand of mercy and care.

When David says that he will tell of the name of God, he is saying that he will praise the character of God. He wants everyone to hear from his lips the truth about who God is, and how it was proven again.

David is inviting all who know God to praise Him. Praise should be the expected and natural result of the awe that God always inspires in the hearts of His children. The affliction of His children never goes unnoticed. Nor has God ever  shown disdain or contempt for the pain of those who put their trust in Him. He hears (we should say, ‘He pays attention to’) every prayer, every cry of those He loves.

It is expected and right for those who trust the Lord to worship Him, to praise Him, to be loyal to Him, to pray with confidence, and to be steadfast, because God is in control. In fact, David reminds the readers that God rules over the nations. It does not matter if one acknowledges Him or not, God rules over him, anyway, and there is not an event anywhere that escapes the control of God.

All those who prosper and those who die will praise God and worship. Again, there is a clear reference to what will ultimately happen.

Philippians 2:9-11

9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Paul tells us, after reminding us of Jesus coming to earth and suffering both the humiliation of humanity and the culmination of suffering at the cross, that one day every one, dead or alive, will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He has eternally been God and has eternally been sovereign of all. One day all will confess; today, believers should be doing it willingly.

God’s expectation, as this psalm reminds us, is that this praise of Him would be clear and would be passed on from generation to generation.

Have you stopped to think of the offense that it is to God when we do not acknowledge His character, His loving care, and His gracious attention to our needs? How ungrateful do we prove to be, and how nearsighted we are, when our focus is only upon the temporal and not on the eternal.

Moreover, have you reflected upon the influence that your reactions have on those people whom God has placed in your life? Your spouse, children, family are very aware of the way you are navigating through your circumstances. Are they attracted to your God, as they watch you? Or are they baffled by the inconsistency between what you say you believe and how those beliefs are being fleshed out in everyday life? Are your fellow believers more and more aware of the grace of God because they are watching you depending on Him and living in light of the eternal? Are your unsaved friends surprised by your peace in the middle of trying circumstances? Is that God-given peace causing them to notice a vast difference from the reaction they know would be theirs, in the same situation?

Paul wrote these words:

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Dear friend, pain and enemies are real. God is equally real.  According to His plan from before the foundation of the world, and because He knew the reality of sin and its consequences, God sent His Son to suffer the death man’s sin deserved, so that we could be reconciled with Him. Today, we enjoy God’s grace and salvation because of what Christ accomplished for us on the cross. Today, we enjoy fellowship with the Father. We know His compassion, grace, love, and meticulous care. God expects us to live for that which is unseen, spiritual, and eternal, and not for what is seen, earthly, and temporal.

Our praise must begin during our trials; it must be a testimony to a world that is self- absorbed and without hope. Our praise to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit should be our way of life!