THOSE WHO KNOW GOD PRAISE
HIM!
Psalm 113
Praise the LORD!
Praise, O servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD!
Blessed be the name of the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore!
From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the LORD is to be praised!
The LORD is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens!
Who is like the LORD our God,
who is seated on high,
who looks far down
on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of his people.
He gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the LORD!
Praising the Lord is
certainly a joyous duty, which should be the daily activity of all God’s
servants.
The author is reminding us
of the subject of this praise, its length, its duration, and the reasons for
our praise.
Knowing that the LORD is the
subject of our praise should certainly cause us to love praising Him! God is
majestically in control of all, daily, minute by minute, I tend to forget this.
My attention goes to the situations, the circumstances, the people around me
and I act as if they are in control. I look at people and I see their
inconsistencies, their sins, their attitudes, and I mentally become their
victim. This psalm is reminding me to look beyond circumstances and people, and
see the One who holds everything in His hands.
Living in Italy
The author reminds us to
praise the name of the LORD. In our culture, the importance of names has ben lost. But in the culture of the time, a
name was descriptive of the person. Every name of God we find in Scripture
displays His character to us, and there are many.
Our God is a powerful God,
He is holy, in total control, loving, gracious, just, righteous, majestic… He
is our shepherd, our counselor, our guide, our father… We should pause and
think of His names, as we rehearse the difficulties and challenges of our days.
He is the provider, the healer, the sustainer…
We are in good hands. Praise
the LORD!
God is in total control. We
might be confused by our circumstances, perplexed by the events, but we can and
must find our rest in God.
2 Corinthians 4:7-12
But we have this
treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and
not to us. We are afflicted in every
way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not
forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death
of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that
the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at
work in us, but life in you.
God’s goal, in allowing us
to go through our circumstances, is that He will be exalted and not us. Way too
often, our comfort, our families, our relationships, our possessions even our
churches become our treasure. We get attached to earthly treasures! Our
treasure must be always Christ!
God controls who is poor,
who is rich, who has children; He wants for us to look to Him at all times and
joyfully receive what His hand is giving us.
The interesting thing is
that we complain and are so quickly disappointed because things don’t go
according to our plans and desires, and forget how limited we are in what we
see and understand.
No comments:
Post a Comment