FROM START TO FINISH

I like to start and finish my days praising God.  We walk together in fellowship through the day, and He sits by my side throughout the night.  There’s nothing I can’t ask Him, and there’s no answer He doesn’t have.  I have called upon Him to deliver my body from pain and sickness and from the contempt of my enemies.  In that regard, I am like the Psalmist—he has called and He has answered. 

Likewise, David is continuously asking others to join him in a chorus of praise to our God.  It’s not that they’ll feel better—rather, that God will.

There was a time when worship services regularly included a season of testimonies giving praise to God.  Some would praise Him that He would be glorified, while others did to simply be seen and heard by others.  Those that did so, “missed it”, and those that observed that miss testimony time to this day.

Remembering testimony that speaks to the goodness of God is a glorious exercise that builds us up as we practice it—whether in a group setting or just alone with Him.  What we don’t want to remember—but should—is our sin.  It’s not so we can or should beat ourselves up, but that we can see from whence He’s brought us.  It keeps us appreciative of His continual work within us, and it makes it less likely that we will inappropriately judge the motives of another—or for that matter, ourselves.

I’ve started this entry with praise—I’ll end it with praise, and, like the anticipation at the day’s start, and the reflection at it’s end, we can know peace through it all, when we know the Peace Maker.

B(Les)sings

Psalm 30

King James Version (KJV)

 ¹I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
 ²O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.
 ³O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
 ⁴Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
 ⁵For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
 ⁶And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.
 ⁷LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.
 ⁸I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication.
 ⁹What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
 ¹⁰Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper.
 ¹¹Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
 ¹²To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.