** I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. ** Psalm 34:1
I have been thinking more about my last post. There’s one thing I didn’t mention.
David’s will.
David declares…I WILL…David decided. He will bless the Lord. And he WILL do it at all times. If anyone is like me, emotions can bring us under their control. If we are having a rough day, blessing the Lord is not always a priority. Survival, yes. But blessing and praising? Not so much. If we are gripped with fear over a loved ones health or other problems, the fear can take over and choke off our voice of praise.
My friend’s daughter is undergoing a kidney transplant as I write. Fear, worry and a bit of panic could easily reign in her heart. But she is clinging to the Lord’s promises and CHOOSING to praise Him in the middle of this very long day. It doesn’t mean the emotions are not there. She is just not letting them make her decisions.
So, back to the Psalm.
Psalm 103 starts almost the same way as Psalm 34…**Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. ** The rest of Psalm 103 gives us a nice long list of ideas of how we can bless the Lord. It teaches us that blessing the Lord, making Him happy, is when we consciously remember all that He has done for us and continues to do for us. It is so easy to just get caught up in our day to day and forget that **Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights…**. It is all from Him, so we ought to acknowledge that, right?
Psalm 86 gives us another great list for praising and blessing the Lord. Praise, bless, giving thanks are all synonymous.
You see, God is SO good to us that when we just have no idea where to start, no idea how to live out our daily walk with Him, He gives us all the clues we need to get it right. There is no need to worry if we are new at this, God understands and has already given us the answers in His Word.
For me, the tougher part of this verse is the ALL TIMES part. The CONTINUALLY part. How are we supposed to do that? Are we supposed to be a ‘Well, bless the Lord, honey, no matter what’ kind of person?
Yea, kind of.
But, how can I bless and praise the Lord without sounding corny or an oddball, especially to those who don’t know Him? Don’t get me wrong, if that is how you do God, go for it. It’s just not me.
Psalm 69:30 says ** I will praise the name of God with a song…**
Hmmm….a song. Like it says in Ephesian 5…**speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; ** A melody in your heart to the Lord. It’s tough to have a sweet melody running around inside of us and not be happy, right? It’s hard to have a song resounding in our soul and be complaining at the same time, right?
Have you ever started out on a Sunday morning trying to get out the door for church and EVERYTHING goes wrong? Which makes you show up for church with a sour spirit? I have. OFTEN!!
But, what happens when you start to join everyone else during the praise service? The SONG time? Does it change your attitude and perspective? It does for me!!! My husband and I used to head to church in the car, fighting all the way there, as young Christians. But once we both started singing hymns and spiritual songs…VOILA!!! Bad spirit was gone! We would apologize and hug and start the day over again.
I guess that’s the easy answer. How do we bless God at all times? Sing. Play good music and LISTEN to it and respond to the message in it. REMEMBER what He has done for you. REMEMBER what life was like without Him. Remember who He is and what He can do.
There is a TON more on this subject throughout the Bible. This is just a little appetizer. A few verses to get us started.
Whatever our taste or preference is on Christian music, there are 1,000’s upon 1,000’s of songs of praise out there, written throughout the generations. There is something for everyone. Get a hold of a few of them and REALLY connect with them so that it isn’t about the music but the words. The words that are leaving our mouths and reaching God’s ears. It will change our mood and our outlook. And….
If we could see Him at that moment, I am SURE that He will be smiling and that He is HAPPY!