Every day, I will praise You

Every day I will praise You, Lord.

David, the Psalmist, makes this commitment in Psalm 145… daily praise, and even forever praise.  (verse 2)

Even though David was well aware that some days are tougher than steel and colder than ice.  Even though he knew that pain is real and piercing and that loss is inevitable and wrenching, and that there are moments when it’s all you can do just to breathe, David chose to say, “Yes!” to praise.

WHY?
Why choose to praise when there are days that we want to shout, with every fiber of our being, “No!  Oh, please, no… Lord, no.” ???

Read on, and look for David’s reasons (and for your reasons, too) in Psalm 145.  Then, let us think about this together.

Psalm 145

A psalm of praise. Of David.

¹ I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.
² Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever.

³ Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
⁴ One generation commends your works to another;
they tell of your mighty acts.
⁵ They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
and I will meditate on your wonderful works.^[b]
6 They tell of the power of your awesome works—
and I will proclaim your great deeds.
⁷ They celebrate your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.

⁹ The Lord is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.
¹⁰ All your works praise you, Lord;
your faithful people extol you.
¹¹ They tell of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might,
¹² so that all people may know of your mighty acts
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures through all generations.

The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
and faithful in all he does.^[c]
14 The Lord upholds all who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.
¹⁶ You open your hand
and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and faithful in all he does.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
¹⁹ He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.
²⁰ The Lord watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.

²¹ My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.
Let every creature praise his holy name
for ever and ever.

So, what are the reasons that David gives for his daily praise?

1.  The Lord is great.
He is great… far beyond our understanding.   (So, when we don’t understand… He is still great.)

“His greatness no one can fathom.” (3b)

2.  The Lord is worthy of praise.
A fact is a fact… no matter how we are feeling.  He is worthy.  Period.

“Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise” (3a)

3.  The Lord has done incredible, mighty, awesome, wonderful things.
His creation and His recreation of our hearts and lives give us a glimpse, but we cannot begin to fathom all that the Lord has done.

⁴ One generation commends Your works to another;
they tell of Your mighty acts.

…and I will meditate on Your wonderful works.^{[ 5 b ]}

⁶ They tell of the power of Your awesome works—
and I will proclaim Your great deeds.

4.  The Lord is majestic in His splendor.
We cannot even imagine the majesty of the Lord.

Take all of the most beautiful, awesome, and wondrous things and places you have ever seen…
take the vastness of space…
take the intricate and amazing work in a creature as tiny as an ant…
take the most majestic, sparkling, costly royal splendor that mankind has ever been able to produce (with the minds that He created)…

All of that, together, is a part of His creative and majestic creation (which is also a revelation of who He is).

But all of it together,
from the microscopic to the humongous beyond belief,
and from the wonder of all living things to the beauty of every kind of ecosystem…

reveals only a fraction of His majesty.

⁵ They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
and I will meditate on Your wonderful works.

5.  The Lord is powerful.
If His works are powerful, how much moreso is He!  He made them.  They are just His creation, but He is the source of their power.

⁶ They tell of the power of Your awesome works—

6.  The Lord is abundantly good.
Everything good comes from His hand.  He made everything and pronouced it “good” because His original Creation, before mankind brought sin, reflected the goodness of its Creator.  He is good in every way that it is possible to be good.  His goodness is cause for celebration!  His is not a false goodness.  It is not pretense.  It is righteous goodness.  He does not show preference.  He is good to ALL.

⁷ They celebrate Your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

⁹ The Lord is good to all;
 He has compassion on all He has made.

7.  The Lord is righteous.
     He is not merely good… He is holy and righteous.  He will ultimately make everything right.  His goodness goes beyond what we know as goodness, because it is righteous.  It is totally pure… in love… in motivation.  There is no darkness in Him at all.  His righteousness produces joy. 

^7b and joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways
and faithful in all he does.

8.  The character of the Lord is tender toward us.

    a.  He is gracious
Full of grace, flowing continually out of His abundantly gracious character (who He is), God gives His grace without expecting us to earn or deserve it.  He gives His grace because He is gracious.

     b.  He is compassionate.
His compassion goes far beyond just caring about us.  His compassion motivated Him to give Himself completely in the person of Christ.  Compassion is caring that is deep enough to motivate a profound expression of love.

     c.  He is slow to anger.
The Lord is patient with us… much moreso than we are with one another, and even with our own loved ones.  Although He is deeply grieved by our every hurt and loss (compassionate), He remains patient with mankind, desiring to give us continued opportunity to turn to Him for salvation.

    d.  He is rich in love.
The love of the Lord is vast and immeasureable.  If the earth is His footstool and everything belongs to Him as Creator, He is certainly rich… but it is the limitless stores of his wealth of love that He longs for us to know.

How far would His love go?
From Heaven… to earth… to the cross… to death… and even to hell,
all to gain the victory for us over sin, hell, and death.

His love took our most hideous weakness and ugliness and enveloped it in the strength and everlasting power of His pure holiness, removing the stinking graveclothes of our sin and clothing us with His own righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.

⁹ The Lord is good to all;
 He has compassion on all He has made.

9.  His Kingdom is glorious and everlasting.
In order to have a Kingdom, one must be a King.  But His is not just any Kingdom, and He is not just any King.  He is the King of Kings, and His Kingdom is everlasting.  He can never be de-throned because He is the Lord of all, even of those who do not acknowledge Him.

¹⁰ All your works praise You, Lord;
  Your faithful people extol You.
¹¹ They tell of the glory of Your kingdom
and speak of Your might,
¹² so that all people may know of Your mighty acts
and the glorious splendor of Your kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and Your dominion endures through all generations.

10.  The Lord is trustworthy and faithful.
        He is good, so we can trust Him.  He is a keeper of promises.  He does not give up or quit.  He is faithful to keep His word, to remain unchanging, to finish all of the good works that He has begun, and to someday make everything right.

The Lord is trustworthy in all He promises
and faithful in all He does.^{[ 13 c ]} 

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways
and faithful in all He does.

11. The Lord is our Sustainer and the Giver of all good things.
Without the sustaining presence of the Lord in all of Creation, the needs of every living thing would not be met.

¹⁵ The eyes of all look to You,
and You give them their food at the proper time.
¹⁶ You open your hand
and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

12.  The Lord is our helper and our Savior.
He helps us get up when we fall and even holds us as we are falling.  He lifts up those who are bowed beneath a heavy load and brings joy to hearts that have been humbled or broken.  He is near.  He is with us.  He hears us when we call on Him in truth.  He fulfills our desires.  He hears our cries.  He saves us.  He watches over us.  He will someday remove us from the very presence of evil.  He is our loving and caring Shepherd.

¹⁴ The Lord upholds all who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down.

¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on Him,
to all who call on Him in truth.

¹⁹ He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him;
  He hears their cry and saves them.
²⁰ The Lord watches over all who love Him,
but all the wicked He will destroy.

  The Lord is close by, waiting for us to understand that we need Him and come into agreement with the truth about who He is and who we are. Then, when we see our need for Him and cry out, He knows that knowing Him, having His forgiveness, and living in fellowship with Him have become Him the desires of our heart. He hears our cry, and He saves us (when we have asked Him to come into our lives as Savior and Lord).

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David’s conclustion, in light of who God is,
is that he must commit himself to daily and eternal praise.

David begins the Psalm with this commitment and ends the Psalm with a restatement of his personal commitment to daily and eternal praise.

This is the final verse of Psalm 145:

²¹ My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.
Let every creature praise his holy name
for ever and ever.

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The notes on Bible Gateway about Psalm 145 tell us this interesting bit of information.  “This psalm is an acrostic poem, the verses of which (including verse 13b) begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.” 

This fact tells me that David was also communicating the fact that the Lord is the Alpha and Omega, worthy of praise from the beginning of time and throughout eternity, meeting all of our needs and sharing His love with all of mankind, keeping His promises and fulfilling His Kingdom with both awesome power and gracious, loving tenderness.

May every day become a day of praise.

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This post was written by Cynthia Boyd, with the inspiration of Psalm 145.
The NIV Scripture text was copied from Bible Gateway

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+145

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Write a Family Praise Psalm

Have you ever considered that your family could write your own praise Psalm? This would be a great thing for your family to do at Thanksgiving or at any time of year. After all, a psalm is simply a heartfelt prayer song to the Lord. Psalms are always honest. The Psalmists speak of times of difficulty in some songs, but they always come back to the fact that God is Supreme over all and that He is good and is worthy of our trust and our worship and praise. Psalms can be very personal, but at the same time they are universal in that the heart cries of the Psalmists of old still resonate with people today.

Living a life of trust and walking by faith are not always easy, so one thing that the Psalmists did was to declare their intention to honor their covenant relationship with God by choosing to be guided by God’s word or to praise the Lord every day. In addition, the Psalmists often spoke of who God is as far as His character. In the Psalms, we read of God’s holiness, righteousness, goodness, kindness, long suffering, His mercies, His everlasting love, His power and might, and His glory. The Psalmists were guided by their knowledge of who God is and their relationship with Him. In Psalms that were written in times of trial, the Psalmists call out to God because of the fact that they know He is good and loving and merciful. In good times. the Psalmists exalt the Lord because of His kindness and long suffering that has been revealed through both trials and blessings.

We all have life stories and faith journeys, just like the Psalmists. Every individual story is unique, and every family has their own journey as well. In order to focus on the element of praise in your family’s Psalm, it is helpful to look at two of the most well known praise Psalms in the Bible. Both are very short (only 5 – 6 verses), and they are a good model for your family’s prayer of praise. So, here are two scripture memory photos for Psalm 100 and Psalm 150. These can be printed in whatever size works best for you and used for your family times of devotion. Perhaps your family can memorize the five verses of Psalm 100 one month and the six verses of Psalm 150 the next. Or, spend some time reading and talking about these two Psalms during a couple of your family worship times. Look at the times that are mentioned when the Psalmist praised the Lord. Look at the attributes and actions of God that the Psalmist praised. Look at the commitments to the Lord that the Psalmist mentions in the verses. What actions or attitudes have the Psalmists chosen for themselves in order to demonstrate their praise to God? How can your family demonstrate your praise and thanksgiving? At what times of day and in what places can your family express their praise? Read through the two brief praise Psalms above and below this paragraph, and then think about what your family’s praise Psalm would say.

WRITING YOUR FAMILY PRAISE PSALM

Make your family’s praise Psalm as unique and personal as you desire. You can frame a copy for each child’s room or for your family room if desired. Just make sure that it reflects your family’s desire to praise and thank the Lord for who He is, what He has done, and what He is doing in your lives. Your praise Psalm should state your family’s intention to be faithful to God in praise as He has been faithful to you in everything. Most importantly, your praise Psalm should be true to scripture. Have fun working together with your family to figure out what your praise Psalm should say. Below, you will find a set of suggestions for writing your praise Psalm that would be easily understood by most children. This can be printed and used to guide that process of writing if you feel that it would be helpful.

Print this guideline to help your family write a Praise Psalm, or write the suggestions on sentence strips and give each family member one suggestion to work on as their contribution to your family’s Praise Psalm.

MY FAMILY’S PRAISE PSALM

“Praise the Lord! Praise Him wherever you are.

Praise God when you get up in the morning to get ready for the day.

Praise Him when you go to school or when you run to play.

Praise God when you are with your brothers and when you are alone.

Praise God at church; Praise God at home.

Think of God and praise him all day long.

Praise Him with a thank you song.

Praise God when it is time for slumber;

Count your blessings…what a number!

Praise the Lord! Praise Him everywhere you go,

Praise Him for all of the love that you know.

For our God is so good.

His promises are true.

His love lasts forever. His mercies are new.

Praise Him with your family.

Praise Him with your friends.

His love lasts forever. His grace never ends.

Praise the Lord!”

 

(Your Praise Psalm doesn’t have to be poetic. Ours just came out that way. Just make sure that your Praise Psalm reflects your family’s personal opportunities to praise the Lord, some reasons to praise Him, and your intention to do just that.)

Blessings to you and your family as you walk with the Lord day by day and choose to praise and worship the Lord together!

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This post was written by Cynthia A. Boyd

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The decision to ask Jesus to come into your heart and life as your Lord and Savior is the best decision you could ever make! The one true God is ready to give you forgiveness and eternal life as soon as you understand your need for Him and believe on the name of His only Son, Jesus, for your salvation. Here’s a blog page link to help you find the answers to your questions about Jesus.

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