Praise the Lord,
for it is good to sing praises to our God.
Yes, praise is pleasant and appropriate. —Psalm 147:1
I just read the whole of Psalm 147 and I can literally feel joy and sweetness in my heart. I am making a commitment to myself now that anytime I feel sad or discouraged, I am going to read Psalm 147. It is such an uplighting, purifying, and joy-giving Psalm!
Praise The Lord!
What stops you from praising the Lord? Here are some that are true for me:
- When I am angry and discouraged. All I want to do is to complain and stew in my anger and frustration. And if you know me personally, you will know I am a cry baby. So when unfavorable things happen, I tend to cry.
- When it feels like nothing good can happen from a situation. In my head, this is the conversation, “It is over. This matter, this situation, is dead. Nothing good can come out of it. So why bother?”
- When there is so much chaos and darkness that light is hard to see.
Those are some of mine. I am not proud of them, but in those moments my joy is hidden, my peace is far away, and I hardly remember to pause and thank God. But Psalm 147 encourages us to praise God. It says, “Praise is pleasant and appropriate.” The word appropriate stopped me in my tracks as I was reading. When I feel like it and when I don’t, when the situation is good or bad, when everything wrong that wants to happen, happens – praise and not despair should be my reaction. Wow! No matter what my circumstances or how I feel, I should praise God. Psalm 147 tells me to sing praises to God.
Praise is the appropriate response of a child of God!
Get as many sticky notes as you can get, write that down as a reminder, and place it in strategic places in your house, car, and workplace so you do not forget.
It is absolutely good to praise God! It is pleasant, and that was the feeling I felt while reading this Psalm earlier. I felt sweet on the inside. And if I felt like that, I can’t begin to imagine how God feels when I praise Him. No wonder Scripture says He inhabits the praises of His children. He lives and dwells in our praises.
If you are looking for reasons to praise God, then read the whole of Psalm 147. It shows the awesomeness, the might, and incomparable power of our God. He can do and undo. He makes alive and puts down His enemies. He controls the weather and the climate. There is no limit to His wisdom and power. He restores and refreshes. He answers prayers in ways we can never imagine or pray for. He is God all by Himself. No government is needed to make Him who He is. Throughout all ages He is undefeated. He rules and reigns in the affairs of humans. All are subject to Him. There was nothing that was created apart from Him. Through Him, in Him and for Him were all created. The God of all times, the bad, good, favorable, and unfavorable. He causes all things to work together for the good of those that love Him and are called according to His purpose.
I can go on and on and on.
Today, join me in reading this Psalm over and over until everything fades away and your heart is filled with the assurance that you are not alone. God works with you, and one of His desires is for you to experience overflowing joy so that those around you will want to know what has gotten into you. That is your opportunity to share with them the greatest Gift of all: Jesus.
Exceeding joy,
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