Exploding Heart

Psalm 145: 1

I will exalt You, my God, the King, and I will bless Your name forever and ever.

How nice. Then again, how dry, tamed and devoid of emotion. Per usual, I took the verse from the New American Standard Bible. Now, see it from one of my other favorite translations, the God’s Word Translation, “I will highly praise you, my God, the king. I will bless your name forever and ever.” That is a bit better, I would say, but when you know more context for this psalm you might still question the uninspired choice of words. This psalm is a “Song of Praise by David.” It sure does not sound like David. Now, allow me to share the Passion Translation’s rendering of this verse, “My heart explodes with praise to you! Now and forever my heart bows in worship to you, my King and my God!” There you go! That’s better. Those words sound like David.

The NASB is my preferred version, but I use many Bible translations in order to get at the fullness of meaning. Today’s verse is one of those times when the NASB needs some help. It shows our stoic, rather constrained, British Biblical heritage. David wasn’t a western thinker though. He was a man who poured out his heart to God in hundreds of songs. He praised God with his entire being, singing and dancing with abandon. I think David would make me a bit uncomfortable. I quite like the restrained nature of some church’s worship. I must ask, though, is it really worship and can it qualify for praise. I find, too, as time goes by, I find myself less satisfied with it and will even admit it feels a bit stifling. Don’t get me wrong, I am not ready to dance like David, but I do find myself wishing I could.

Many of us would criticize people who praise like David. They make us uncomfortable. We used to condemn them as “too emotional.” I have begun to question myself in this regard because we are discussing praise to an entity who describes Himself as what we would define as an emotion, Love. Maybe Yahweh is emotional. Maybe Jesus is. We seem to have made this verse over in our image. We praise God with our hands in our pockets while David danced so energetically that he danced his clothes off. I am certainly not ready for that, but I bear in mind that God called David a man after His own heart. Then I think about how David praised God and sang love songs to Him. Thus, I begin to question my style. Maybe Father would like for my face to look more like there is feeling behind my words.

David could not refrain from shouting and singing. He couldn’t hold still because his heart was bursting with his love of God. There is no way I can criticize him for that, even if I am secretly glad he isn’t standing right next to me in church. Maybe someday, I will praise like David. Maybe someday the whole church will lose its inhibitions. Then perhaps we will all shout and sing our praises to God!

How Do I Praise Thee

Psalm 135: 1

Praise the LORD!
Praise the name of the LORD;
Praise Him, you servants of the LORD.

Why praise the Lord? How do you praise the Lord? The Bible tells us to; I guess that is reason enough. That usually does not motivate us though, at least not long term. There are other good reasons to enter into praise. One big reason is that it helps us connect with Him. As I wrote last week, it is a way to seek His presence. He inhabits the praise of His people (Psalm 22: 3).

The reason I am working my way to today, is that it makes you feel good. If ever you are depressed, praise the Lord. You cannot be depressed while praising God. It’s true. Now, it may take a bit of time to get your heart switched over into praise but once you do, the depression will lift. You won’t “feel” like praising God but as you begin, things within you start to release and your spirit experiences the lifting effects of praise.

The next question becomes, “How do you praise the Lord?” This is a personal question. What works for me may not work for you. I knew someone who danced with her hands. I couldn’t make myself do it, but her hands were beautiful in their expression. There are people who dance. I sing. Ultimately, for many of us it boils down to the words, that come out. Perhaps they don’t come easily at first. Perhaps we begin at a loss for words. The secret is in beginning.

What do you say? Start simply. “Father, I praise you.” Praise Him for who He is. Praise Him for His attributes. Once you begin thinking about Him, how big He is, how kind He is, other thoughts begin to flow. Thanksgiving easily becomes part of praise. “Thank you for salvation. Thank you for your son.” If you begin, your spirit begins to lift and your heart finds more and more to express.

May I encourage you today? Even if you have never felt comfortable in praise or perhaps even never engaged in praise before, get alone and begin to envelope yourself in all His goodness. Tell Him all the things you appreciate about Him, how He is loving, kind, gentle, etc. Just keep lavishing praise on Him and observe how good it makes you feel.

Praise Power

Psalm 22: 26

The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever!

There is no better way to a deeper level of communion with God than by praise and worship. A good song of praise can get you unstuck and free your spirit. When I am really struggling, I sing to God, which, by the way, I learned from Him. Funny story: one day I heard Him say, “Sing our song.” I didn’t even realize we had a song but like young lovers, we did, and it only took a moment to realize which song He thought of as ours. What a joyous time together that ended up being and there was no doubt about His presence in the room with me which is always the greatest of all joys.

This verse says that those who seek the Lord will praise Him. Which comes first? Praising Him is a way of seeking His presence. Some people praise in song, others simply speak. It certainly can be awkward at first. Some people are very good at it. Others, not so much. I am one of those who is not quite so eloquent, so I usually sing a praise song. What I find is that even though I may begin in awkwardness, as I stay with it, I relax. As I relax, I get in better touch with my own spirit. Praise lives in my spirit so once I am connected to my spirit, it becomes easy to pour out words about His greatness and His unfailing kindness.

I hope you will employ this way of seeking the Lord and a deeper relationship with Him.

Relief

Psalm 30: 11 -12

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.

This is a picture of a saint who was in mourning until the Lord turned his sorrow into joy. Sackcloth is a symbol of mourning like wearing black. But God removes that deep hurt from us and replaces it with joy. He takes tears and creates from them a dance. There is no hurt so deep that He cannot soothe it; no sorrow so expansive that He cannot bridge it. He is healing and comfort to all who grieve. The wails of the night He turns into the praise of the morning. He causes our hearts to sing with joy. The joy of His presence is greater than the brokenness of our experience and we find healing in Him. Our mouths will open to sing praises to Him, and thanksgiving will be our constant refrain. Great is the Lord; great to behold and worthy of thanksgiving and praise.

Glory and Majesty

Jude 1: 24 – 25

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.

To God be glory, majesty, dominion and authority. Amen. That is enough of a prayer on its own, a really great prayer in fact. Still, Jude paired it with other concepts. He gives us reasons to praise God and exalt Him because of the miracle of these gifts. Significantly, that we might be able to stand in His presence, in His glory, and though that would be enough, there is still more. Because of the great miracle of substitutionary redemption, we can stand in the Lord’s presence perfectly blameless. That’s amazing! Thank you, Jesus,!

So let us meditate on standing in the presence of our beloved savior and our Father seeing ourselves clean and pure, standing there with them in the fullness of joy. Lord, may your kingdom here on earth reflect the glory and majesty of your kingdom in the New Jerusalem and thank you for allowing us to be citizens therein. Amen!

Abundant Thanks Lord

Psalm 109: 30 – 31

With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the Lord; And in the midst of many I will praise Him. For He stands at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who judge his soul.

This verse is for me today. I would like to be this person. Of all the things I think I could change about me, this is one I would like to succeed at. I doubt I am the only person who feels they do not praise the Lord enough or give Him enough thanks. But then, how could we ever give Him enough thanks. We set aside a day a year but how much do we even thank Him on Thanksgiving Day?

I have known people who praise God in the midst of others. They lived in an attitude of praise. I want to be like that.

God stands at the right hand of the needy. Who is that? I figure that is each one of us. He stands ready to save us from those who judge us and from every situation which plagues us.

Laud

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord, all nations; laud Him, all peoples! For His lovingkindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Praise the Lord!

This was an easy Psalm Monday. The entire psalm is two verses and every word is wonderful. Two things struck me, though. First, this psalm is directed towards all nations and all people. Think of that. Imagine all the people of the world praising Yahweh, lauding Him with praise. Is that not a beautiful image? That day will come. We can meditate on it now, rolling that image around in our minds. All the peoples of the world will sing praises to the Lord, our God and we will praise Him in unison, many languages in harmony. Wow!

The other part of this psalm that spoke to me was, “the truth of the Lord is everlasting.” I was thinking, “All the people of the earth will know His truth, the fullness of truth.” We will have our questions answered and see truths we never perceived before. His truths are unchanging but still being revealed. Every day we can bask in more and more of His truth. We may find we didn’t have everything right but that is okay too. Our egos do not need to be right in the light of His revealed truth. It will be a joy just seeing more and more of His everlasting truth.

Of course, it is great news that His thoughts are loving and kind towards us. This is an important meditation. It might be the most important part of the psalm. We need this revelation of a God who is always loving and kind towards us. He is not hateful, angry, vengeful, or spiteful. He isn’t trying to kill us. He is salvation and grace. Hallelujah! Surely that is good news to a world struggling with any number of challenges. The ultimate answer is that God’s lovingkindness is great toward us, towards all of us; all people, all nations. That’s beyond good news. That’s great news and He is worthy of much praise. Praise the Lord, all you people. Shower Him, right now, with your message of thanksgiving. Worthy is the Lord!