Continual Praise

The following is something I wrote in my prayer journal this week after reading and being convicted by Psalm 34:1:

“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

When things are going smoothly and I feel blessed,
I will give You praise.

When trouble comes and I need Your helping hand,
I will give You praise.

When days are full of sorrow and pain,
I will give You praise.

When I am lonely and depressed,
I will give You praise.

When loved ones suffer and die,
I will give You praise.

When uncertain times make me anxious,
I will give You praise.

When I don’t know where to turn,
I will give You praise.

When I know I’ve sinned and need Your forgiveness,
I will give You praise.

When weeping endures for the night but joy comes in the morning,
I will give You praise.

For You are the Creator, Redeemed, Healer, Comforter, Savior,
Friend of sinners, Provider, Guide, Counselor, Lord, and soon-coming King.

© 2020 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

ABCs of Praise

The following is an experiment in finding Scriptural reasons for praise through the alphabet and came up with two sets, of which I’ll just share one. I challenge you to come up with your own list. All Scriptures are ESV unless otherwise marked.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people, from this time forth and forevermore. –Psalm 125:2

Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. –Psalm 121:4

Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. –Matthew 11:28

Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. –Psalm 37:4

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. –James 1:17

For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you… –Deuteronomy 4:31

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. –1 Thessalonians 5:18

He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. –Job 5:11

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. –John 14:18

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. –Hebrews 13:8

Know that the Lord, He is God! It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. –Psalm 100:3

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. –1 Corinthians 13:7

Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty! –Psalm 93:4

Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. –John 9:32

O my Strength, I will sing praises to You, for You, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love. –Psalm 59:17

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights! –Psalm 148:1

Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him… For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. –Luke 15:22, 24 NIV

Remember the wondrous works that He has done, His miracles and the judgments He uttered. –1 Chronicles 16:12

Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! –Revelation 7:10

This is my comfort in affliction, that Your promise gives me life. –Psalm 119:50

Uphold me according to Your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope! –Psalm 119:116

Victory belongs to the Lord. –Proverbs 21:31

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. –Matthew 25:13

EXALT the Lord our God; worship at His footstool! Holy is He! –Psalm 99:5

You are the Lord, You alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is in them; and You preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships You. –Nehemiah 9:6

Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness. –Isaiah 1:27

I Problems

Some time back I wrote about Job’s entitlement mentality. I’m reading through Job again and noticed particularly in chapter 31 how Job repeatedly says “If I have...” The first verse of chapter 32 says, “So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.” It appears that the last time Job really had his eyes on God in worship was in 1:21, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Beginning in chapter 3, his eyes are on himself, “After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.”

It’s amazing how easily we can stop focusing on God and starting focusing on ourselves. It doesn’t take Job-like suffering to do that. Such distraction can come from minor suffering, success, and even service. When we’re in pain, we tend to look at the reason for our pain. C.S. Lewis wrote:

“I once read the sentence ‘I lay awake all night with a toothache, thinking about the toothache and about lying awake.’ That’s true to life. Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery’s shadow or reflection: the fact that you don’t merely suffer but have to keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer. I not only live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief.” (A Grief Observed).

And when things are going well and we’ve achieved some success, we are likely to get distracted by our pride. Comfort can quickly lead to apathy in the Christian life.

But even service can take our eyes off of God. We can get so busy doing good things, even church activities, that we lose sight of the purpose behind them. As Pastor Matt wrote in this week’s sermonrecap:

“Many so-called good works are poisoned when we allow the number two command [love people] to eclipse the number one command [love God]. The purpose of our good works is to glorify God. This completes the circuit, closes the loop, fulfills our function. We were created to glorify God, and this is why we do good works. Not to be seen or praised (Matthew 6:1-17), but so that God might be seen and praised.”

In church activities in particular we run into a conundrum: those who serve should be doing so without expectation of praise or recognition, and yet the Body needs to have an appreciation for all that goes on behind the scenes to make things happen. Service itself is a spiritual discipline, knowing that we are ultimately responsible to God for how we use the gifts He has given us. But I believe praise is also be a discipline we need to practice—we need to be praise God for how He has supplied the Body, and we need to express thanksgiving to people for the ways God has been able to work through their service.

Among his many greetings to individuals in his letters, Paul singles out three and says, “I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such men” (1 Corinthians 16:17-18). He didn’t stop with saying thanks, but he urged the church to take time to thank them as well.

Unfortunately, our lack of praise is another “I problem.” Some possible reasons for it include:

• We don’t know what is being done that is worthy of praise, perhaps due to inattentiveness.
• We don’t believe it is praiseworthy, perhaps due to jealousy, pride, or judgmental attitudes.
• We don’t care enough to take the time to say thanks.

If we look around us with our eyes focused on God, it shouldn’t be hard to see opportunities to thank others for their acts of service. But in case we don’t get around to it, God never forgets:

“For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for His name in serving the saints, as you still do.” –Hebrews 6:10