Thursday 27 March, 2014

1 Shout to God with joy, everyone on earth! 2 Sing about the glory of his name! Give him glorious praise! 3 Say to God, “What wonderful things you do! Your power is so great that your enemies bow down to you in fear. 4 Everyone on earth bows down to you. They sing praise to you. They sing praise to your name.” Selah 5 Come and see what God has done. See what wonderful things he has done for his people! 6 He turned the Red Sea into dry land. The people of Israel passed through the waters on foot. Come, let us be full of joy because of what he did. 7 He rules by his power forever. His eyes watch the nations. Let no one who refuses to obey him rise up against him. Selah 8 Praise our God, you nations. Let the sound of the praise you give him be heard. 9 He has kept us alive. He has kept our feet from slipping. 10 God, you have put us to the test. You put us through fire to make us like silver. 11 You put us in prison. You placed heavy loads on our backs. 12 You let people run over our heads. We went through fire and water. But you brought us to a place where we have everything we need. 13 I will come to your temple with burnt offerings. I will keep my promises to you. 14 I made them with my lips. My mouth spoke them when I was in trouble. 15 I will sacrifice fat animals to you as burnt offerings. I will offer rams, bulls and goats to you. Selah 16 Come and listen, all of you who have respect for God. Let me tell you what he has done for me. 17 I cried out to him with my mouth. I praised him with my tongue. 18 If I had enjoyed having sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. 19 But God has listened. He has heard my prayer. 20 Give praise to God. He has accepted my prayer. He has not held his love back from me.

I see in this Psalm a man exuberant/overflowing in praise to God & his encouragement to others to join him.  God has heard his prayers & answered him.

There is such an excitement & joy – just like a kid at Christmas – v5 “come and see” wanting to show everyone & v16 “come & listen” to what God has done both in the past and now.

This psalm has challenged me.  I don’t sing out my praise to God enough for all the amazing things He has done for me personally & in a whole of world sense too. I don’t mean singing in church, but my everyday life.  We can all sing.  Testimony – v16 – is so powerful, both for me as it makes me articulate what God has done and for the hearers – it builds faith & shows the reality of God to both of us.

Father I want to be more like this psalmist and be more passionate & mindful of singing out in praise your work in my life, circumstances and environment around me.  To sing about the glory of your name! Amen.

Written by Suzie Hodgson