Scripture:
[1] Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!
[2] Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!
[3] Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
[4] Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!
[5] Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
Observation:
Powerful 5 verses about praising the Lord..
We are to:
Give thanks for all he has done
Give thanks for what he has yet to do
Call upon his name above all others
Not only are we to give thanks, we are to tell everyone about him, what he has done, and what he will do.
Sing praises to Him. The Lord loves us to sing praises to him.
Above wealth, power, and even above happiness in this life, we are to glory in His holy name. Our rewards are great.
As we seek him, our hearts will rejoice – we will find joy even when happiness seems distant
As we continually seek him and draw closer to him, his strength will fill us
Something to notice is that David is not saying to only remember all his miracles, and to praise the Lord without also remembering His judgement. This includes judgement that worked against David’s enemies as well as judgement that worked to keep David himself in line. Our Lord is not 100% grace, He balances appropriately with judgement.
Application:
Make known his deeds – we are called to tell everyone about God and the Good News. Why would we not do this? What a wonderful God we serve. The lyrics from the chorus of a Casting Crowns song are stuck in my head – “I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, all about somebody, who saved my sole”. That should be us.
Sing praises to him – I love singing praises to the Lord but even more than that, I love that He loves when we sing praises to Him. “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” (Zeph 3:17). He exults over us with loud singing – love it!
I don’t know about you but even without thinking about miracles from God like life itself, how the universe was formed, or the amazing anatomy of the human body that allows us to breathe and see, God has done enumerable wondrous works in my life. Sing praises to him!
Prayer:
Lord we love You. We can’t count the reasons why we should give thanks to You. The list is endless. Thank you for specific miracles You’ve performed in our lives and in the lives of our families. We glory in Your holy name and Lord, we know Your judgement is always good, even if we can’t get our minds around it sometimes. Lord we sing praises to You and it fills us with joy to know you sing to us as well. In Jesus’ glorious name we pray, amen.