Monday, July 20, 2009

Choose to Praise

“1 I will praise you, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders. 2 I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.” (Psalm 9:1-2 NIV).

What a wonderful privilege we have to sing praises to our God. There are so many wonderful things we could tell, if we were but open to see them!

This particular Psalm is an interesting one. It is believed that David wrote this Psalm after defeating Goliath. The interesting thing about Psalm 9 is this Psalm of praise was set in the familiar tune of “The Death of the Son.” David takes this tune of mourning and turns it into a Psalm of praise. In this wonderful Psalm David reminds us that God never ignores our cries for help (even though He may not respond the way we think He should respond!).

Look at our verses. True praise begins in the heart and escapes from the lips. So often we get it the other way around. We sing praises with our lips (in our worship services), but we don’t feel that wonder in our hearts. That ought not be.

Verse 2 is the key to turning our problems into praises: “I will be glad and rejoice in you . . . .” That, dear reader, is a decided choice not a warm feeling. David decided to overcome his circumstances rather than letting his circumstances overcome him! He chose to be glad and rejoice not in his surroundings but in His God. That decision put praise in heart and a song on his lips.

Each of us have but two choices in the difficult things of life. Either we can let them get us down, or we can lift our eyes to Heaven and let Him pull us up.

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