Skip to main content

Daily Devotion: Psalm 147:1-5

By

Psalm 147:1-5    "Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.  (2)  The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.  (3)  He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.  (4)  He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.  (5)  Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite."

The Book of the Psalms closes out with consecutive songs of praise. Each one lists various works of God in the universe and in our hearts that are worthy of our praise. I must admit that all too many times I am negligent of offering proper praise unto the Lord for things that may even be overlooked. It is too easy to take things for granted. I'm speaking of things that are of absolute importance to us, but go unnoticed - until they fail to work properly.

Today's Psalm, when read in its entirety, speak of the manner in which our Lord reaches down to lift us up when we are struggling in life. He has given us the proper means to overcome those low times. Notice verse 1 of today's passage: "Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely." Praise is pleasant and praise is beautiful. It is beautiful in that when we begin to praise the Lord for His goodness and mercy, our burdens become lighter. They become lighter because praise takes us closer into the presence of the Lord. Remember what Jesus said? "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) Praise does not always drive away the problem, but it sure makes it lighter to endure. It is lighter because Jesus is sharing that burden. "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:30) In His presence, we find strength and understanding. We find a stronger personal relationship with our Lord through praise. Read the passage once again. It would be good to read the entire Psalm. "It is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely (beautiful)"

I'm reminded of one of our camp songs just now:
Praise Him, Praise Him,
Praise Him in the morning,
Praise Him in the noontime;
Praise Him, Praise Him,
Praise Him when the sun goes down!

And then we have:
Praise Him, praise Him, all ye little children,
God is love, God is love;
Praise Him, praise Him, all ye little children,

God is love, God is love. 

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Daily Devotion: Psalm 88:1-4

By
Psalm 88:1-4  A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. "O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:  (2)  Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;  (3)  For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.  (4)  I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength" I've said this before and I will say it again (and probably more times before we get to the end of the Psalms) - I love the Psalms because I can surely identify with them. Most Psalms start in a low place and as the writer expresses his thoughts, the Lord begins to lift him up out of that dry place.  Though this entire Psalm is a fervent cry unto the Lord, the Psalmist tells us specifically in three verses that he cried daily unto the Lord. Just a few Psalms ago, we were reminded that God always hears our prayers. ...
Read more

Daily Devotion (Video): I Will Fear No Evil - Psalm 23:4

By
Read more

Daily Devotion: Knowing God By Bearing Fruit

By
Some will notice the title is not “Bearing fruit because we know God,” so to avoid getting sidetracked with that, we can start with the fact that we won’t bear any godly fruit unless our heart has been changed and the Holy Spirit dwells within us. Also, to avoid confusion, I’ll be using the terms “bearing fruit,” “good works” and “service” interchangeably.  I took this article’s title from Part 7, of John Piper’s “Look at the Book” session on Colossians 1:9-12. I greatly encourage you to view that short video to get his excellent exposition on this subject.  When I saw the title of the video earlier this year, I got kind of excited because that’s the direction my thinking has gone in the past several years. My thinking was founded Biblically with verses on good works like Matthew 5:16 – “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father, who is in heaven.” But I couldn’t expand it to expla...
Read more