The wise recognize the hand of God and act appropriately…
1 Shout for joy in
the Lord, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.
2 Give thanks to
the Lord with the lyre;
make melody to him
with the harp of ten strings!
3 Sing to him a
new song;
play skillfully on the
strings, with loud shouts.
The invitation is clear!
The righteous should be shouting for joy in praise to the Lord. The writer
reminds us that it is appropriate, indeed, for those who have a relationship
with the Lord to praise Him. Sometimes it’s more impactful to think about it in
the negative: that it is inappropriate not to praise God.
Think about your expressed
attitudes in the last few days. Would those who have watched you say that your
life has been an example of praise? The praise the psalmist is portraying here is
elaborate, and the righteous are well- prepared, skillfully playing
accompaniment with musical instruments to their words of worship!
There is a clear image of
excitement. And when we stop and reflect, we quickly realize there are
certainly many reasons for us to do the same.
The psalmist goes on to remind
us of some of these reasons for our praise:
4 For the word of
the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done
in faithfulness.
5 He loves
righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the
steadfast love of the Lord.
6 By the word of
the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of
his mouth all their host.
7 He gathers the
waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in
storehouses.
The word of the Lord can
be trusted, and all He does is done in faithfulness to His character and His
promises. God loves all that is righteous and just, and all that He does is
true to what He loves. All God does is motivated by His love. God is active in
showing His love to all mankind, even though they might be oblivious to it.
God’s creation is a display of God’s care for mankind, as He sustains and
controls everything in it.
The more we reflect on
these truths, the more evident it becomes that is right for man to worship and
praise God.
8 Let all the earth fear
the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of
the world stand in awe of him!
9 For he spoke,
and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood
firm.
The writer commands the
earth to fear God; man should first of all look at nature, recognize the hand
of God and be amazed at the display of power and perfection in His creation. God’s
control is effortless: simply by His spoken word, He creates, controls, and
sustains all.
As I think about this, not
only should our praise be loud and clear, but it should also be without shame
or fear. We certainly should fear God, but never man. Even though we live in a
world where evolution has become the religion of the majority, we believers should
be courageous in our praise for the Creator of all.
Romans 1:18-20
18 For the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can
be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to
them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and
divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the
world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
The wise recognize the
hand of God and act appropriately… They praise Him each day with loud praise.
Every man who does not recognize the hand of God in creation and does not
worship Him accordingly will receive the wrath of God in the judgment day.
May today and all our days
be filled with praise!
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