Don’t Just Thank God, but Praise Him Also

So I was looking through the Psalms trying to find something good to write about when I stumbled upon Psalm 117.  Psalm 117 is only two verses long, to which I googled it to confirm that it is the shortest psalm in the bible.  I thought this was quite humorous considering some psalms are pages long.  But sometimes long isn’t always best.

Psalm 117 reads: “Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.  For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.  Praise the Lord.”

It’s a pretty self explanatory psalm, but it doesn’t hurt to review.  I’m assuming David wrote this psalm as well, since he wrote most of the other ones.

But starting with the first verse, David is telling us that we must praise the Lord.  And why shouldn’t we?  Well that’s where verse two comes in.  David is telling us that we should praise God because He loves us, and He is always faithful to us.  Bam, there you have it.  Quite short and simple, which is what I like.

This psalm doesn’t really need anything more to it.  If you want more, I’m sure one of my other posts can help you out.  Thanksgiving is here, so of course we all are now reminded to be thankful for everything.  But I think that this psalm is extremely important because it tells us to praise God instead of just thanking Him.

Here on Thanksgiving we all thank God for everything that He has given us, but let’s not stop there.  Let’s praise God for everything that He has given us.  Let us sing and pray and rejoice.  But of course, we can’t just do this on one day, we should do it every single day.

I take a quick look now to 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.  They read: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Also short and simple, man I like this.  If I could add to the verses I would add about praising God as an extension to thanking Him.  When you thank and praise God, you should be happy.  God has given us so much, and that should make us happy.

The key word in these verses is continually.  If I could add anything to Psalm 117 I would put that word in there somewhere.  For we should always be thanking and praising God.  I know it’s terribly cliche for me to be telling you this on Thanksgiving, but it seems that God wants me to relay this information to you at this time.

I’m also getting some vibes that I should explain what I feel the difference between thanking and praising is.  When I thank someone, I acknowledge them and say thank you, and then move on.  When I praise someone, I acknowledge them, but put even more focus on them, and keep that focus on them longer.  I do something extra and out of the ordinary to let them know that I’m thankful for what they’ve done for me.

In any case though, we should be thanking AND praising God all the time.  God has a plan for every one of us, and though we may not like what He gives us at first, we must realize it’s all part of His plan.

God went through great measures to show us that He loves us and is faithful to us.  So thank God for all that He has done for you, but instead of stopping there, go ahead and praise Him.  Thanksgiving should be a joyous day.  In fact every day should be joyous.  God gives us each day, so each and every day we should be thankful for it, and praise Him who gave it to us.

God loves us and is faithful to us.  As everyone says on Thanksgiving, we should be thankful for this.  But in addition to what everyone else says, I’m telling you to also praise God for this.  Praising involves doing something extra; get down on your knees, raise up your arms to the heavens, shout to the Lord His holy name, worship through song and prayer.

Whatever it takes, don’t just thank God, but praise Him also.  🙂

Ascribe to the Voice of the Lord

So I was looking through the bible verse of the day websites, and I found a verse I liked in the Psalms, and then just started reading other psalms.  I came upon Psalm 29 and thought it was very interesting, and felt the need to share my thoughts on it.

The first verse is what caught my eye.  It says “Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.”  Now I’ll admit, I didn’t know what ascribe meant, so I looked it up.  According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary app, ascribe means “to refer to a supposed cause, source, or author.”

What I get from that in accordance to the verse is that we are to give God all the glory and strength.  The verse mentions “mighty ones” in it, and I think what David means is anyone who has God in their hearts.  God makes us mighty people when we follow Him.  The verse also says “ascribe to the Lord” twice, to reinforce David’s point I think.

Verse 2 goes on to say “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.”  I really like how David puts “due his name.”  God really deserves an enormous amount of respect.  You don’t really think too much about respecting God too much, cuz it’s almost a given.  But it’s something to think about though: are we giving God the respect He deserves?  Everything that we do is because of what He has done, so we should always refer to God for everything.  God is ever so holy, so we should worship Him above all things.  Actually to me, I feel that giving God the credit for something you’ve just done is a form of worship.  We should always be giving God the credit, and by doing so, we are worshiping Him in all His splendor.

Verses 1 and 2 go together, while I feel verse 3 kind of stands out by itself.  It reads, “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.”  It’s kind of a mysterious yet intriguing thing to think about the voice of God.  According to the verse, God’s voice is everywhere, in particular over the waters.  I like to think of the movie “The Perfect Storm” in this verse.  There were some ginormous waves and just ever so powerful and roaring waters just crashing over the boat.  And to think, the voice of God is even bigger and louder than that.  You’d never think to hear his voice in that noise, but if God spoke then, you would definitely be able to hear it.  Or even if it’s not volume loud, a thought in your head can drown out everything around you.  I just think that’s pretty interesting and awesome.

Verse 4 I think reinforces verse 3 while also adding to it.  It reads, “The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.”  In verse 3 we figured out that God’s voice is most definitely powerful, but now we read that it’s also majestic.  There are quite a few animals that could fit that description; powerful yet majestic.  Whales, big cats, horses, those are what I could come up with.  These animals are capable of destruction and power.  Yet when you look at them just swimming or running around, you just want to say wow how majestic.  Well maybe you don’t, but just imagine you do at least.  This is the same thing with God’s voice.  It’s extremely powerful, yet very majestic, and you’re just in awe of hearing it.

Verses 5 and 6 go together, and they are, “The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.  He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox.”  I’ll admit, I had to look some of this up, cuz I didn’t really understand it.  But from what I’ve read, cedars just refers to the trees.  And the cedars of Lebanon are a bunch of trees, but I guess this particular forest in Lebanon is especially abundant and full.  I feel that this big forest could apply to any big forest really.  Just think of a forest that you think to be really big and dense and not easily torn apart.  Well God’s voice has the ability to tear through it if need be.  God makes these places just shiver, almost like a giant earthquake is how I picture this.  Instead of plate tectonics making the earth move and crumble, it’s the voice of God.

This verse I think ties in well with verses 7-9.  They read, “The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning.   The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.  The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare.  And in his temple all cry, ‘Glory!'”

Verse 7 is just really short, only one sentence, but yet holds so much in it.  Lightning is always considered powerful and can be destructive, but also very marvelous to watch.  To think God’s voice is like lightning almost brings shivers, both from fear and excitement.  Going on to verses 8 and 9, I go back to verses 5 and 6.  It’s almost the same thing really, just giving another example I guess you could say.  God’s voice is like an earthquake that can just destroy everything.  I think also of an extreme wind that flow through a forest ripping leaves and bark from all the trees.  Just powerful stuff going on here really.

I really like the latter half of verse 9, with everyone in God’s temple shouting “Glory!”  To think that God has the power to destroy everything in His path with His voice is just stunning and also somewhat scary.  But while His voice is extremely powerful and destructive to everything, it’s also majestic.  It is elegant and beautiful to behold, therefore you just want to shout “Glory!”

The last two verses, verses 10 and 11 go together visually, but I feel they are separate.  Verse 10 reads, “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever.”

This is interesting, as David is comparing God’s voice to a flood.  When God speaks, it’s just a flood covering all the earth.  But the best part is when the whole earth is covered and nothing is to be scavenged, God sits on top of it all as ruler.  It doesn’t matter what He covered up, what matters is that God is on top of it all and is our one and only King.  We are to put all our focus on Him and not worry about anything else.

Verse 11 is the ending and I think almost puts a twist on the psalm.  It reads, “The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.”

Ok now this is my interpretation, but I feel that all this stuff happening about power and destruction isn’t actually happening.  I feel that it’s what feels like is happening.  God gives us strength, and to give us strength, he speaks to us.  It could be just a simple conversation with someone, or like an actual miracle that happened.

When we get this feeling that wow I feel God is speaking to me, and I am now filled with strength, this psalm applies.  Like for me, I feel that if I am in need of help, and I ask God for it, everything seems to stop.  At this moment in time that I am asking God for help, I am giving Him all of me.  God wants to help me and will stop everything in my life so that I get His message.  For all I care, the earth could be completely destroyed and underwater, but it doesn’t matter.  God has given me strength and peace.

I don’t know if this makes sense to anyone.  Like the way I see it, I’ve never actually heard God’s voice and been on this earth as it’s being destroyed as this psalm is expressing.  But I have received strength and peace from God, and I have gotten these things because God is all powerful and mighty.  It goes back to the first two verses.  We are to worship God by giving Him the glory and praise.  God is everywhere, and He speaks to us through all of His creation.  By giving God the credit for everything, and only focusing on Him, we are instilling a relationship with Him that is unbreakable.

God’s voice is everywhere, and is powerful enough to destroy the earth.  Another way to think of it is when you’re conversing with God, the world around you just fades away.  God is speaking to you, so nothing else matters.  He is the ruler over all, and our focus should only be on Him.  So when He speaks to us, His voice just destroys the earth around us so that we may not be distracted by it.  This might not be even close to what David originally meant, or it could be spot on.  This is just my interpretation of this passage.

I think this psalm is also directing us to fear God.  He is ever so powerful and can destroy the earth in less than a second.  But he destroys the earth for us all the time so that we may be more focused on Him and give Him all the credit.  His destroying the earth is a beautiful thing.  As we are focused on God, He gives us strength and peace.  So basically, we are to refer to God’s ever so powerful voice to lift us up and gain strength and peace.

In other words, Ascribe to the Voice of the Lord! 🙂

In God I Trust

So again I was looking at the bible verses of the day websites, and I found a verse that I thought was pretty cool.  Actually two verses, Psalm 56: 3-4.  But before I list those verses I actually want to start at the beginning of the psalm and then work my way through it, cuz it’s not that long and it’s a pretty cool psalm.

The first two verses go together I think.  They read: “Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack.  My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride.”

This psalm is written by David and he wrote it when the Philistines had seized him in Gath, so it makes sense for his asking of mercy from attacks.  But this can apply to our every day lives when we’re not being held captive by the Philistines.  People all around us attack us with sin each and every day.  Even though it’s not always a physical attack, emotionally and spiritually we’re fighting battles all the time.  Asking God for mercy is not a bad thing to do when you’re struggling.  In fact it’s probably the best thing to do I think, cuz who else to help you in your time of need than God?

Now coming to verses 3 and 4, they read: “When I am afraid, I will trust in you.  In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid.  What can mortal man do to me?”

God oversees everything and will help you in everything.  All we have to do is trust Him, and He will get the job done.  Verse four reminds me of our currency here in America where they say “In God we trust” on them.  What it says on the coin or bill is supposed to speak for everyone here, but in this particular verse, it speaks only to us as individuals.  “In God I trust.”  At the moment that you are afraid and need help, you’re not thinking about everyone else in this country, you’re only thinking of yourself and how you alone trust in God.  Once we put our trust in Him, there’s nothing in this world that we should be afraid of, cuz God is in control.

Verses 5 and 6 go together, and they read: “All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life.

These verses are almost a repeat of the first two verses.  People attack us by twisting our words around, and making us sin.  Satan is always trying to harm and hurt us and to trip us so that we fall into darkness.  But for the grace and mercy of God, can we defeat Satan.

Verse 7 reads of a punishment for our attackers: “On no account let them escape; in your anger, O God, bring down the nations.”

God is slow to anger, but I believe that this verse actually is a sort of prophesy for the revelation.  God will not let sinners escape from his wrath.  His wrath will be ever terrible and will “bring down the nations,” so to speak.  In the end only those who put their trust and faith in the Lord will survive.

Verse 8 reads: “Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll-are they not in your record?”  To this I believe that David is getting very emotional about this.  And who could blame him?  Either he’s in much pain, or he’s just crying because God is so wonderful.  Whatever the case, this psalm to him carries much emotion, as it should hit us in some way.

Verse 9 gives us hope, and it reads “Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help.  By this I will know that God is for me.”

All we have to do is ask, and God will be there for us.  When our enemies see that God is with us and that they will be defeated, they will turn back and run away.  And by them turning back, we can know that God is on our side, cuz there’s nothing else that would make them turn back then the power of God.

Verses 10 and 11 go together reading “In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise-in God I trust; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me?”

I think David here really wants to stress that God is THE only one to praise.  No other being on earth should be getting all the praise but Him.  It seems like you want to say, well no duh, but I think too often we forget that God deserves all the credit, not any of us earthly beings.  Again though we see the phrase “In God I trust.”  While David is being held captive or whatever from the Philistines, he never loses his trust in God.  He is putting all his faith in God and letting God do what He wants.  Again, with God on our side, we need not be afraid of anything, and no one can harm us, for they will have run away!

Verses 12 and 13 are the last verses, and they go together saying “I am under vows to you, O God; I will present my thank offerings to you.  For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.”

Although we live in a time now where we don’t need to sacrifice an animal to give to God, we can still give our time and thanks to God.  These verses kind of wrap everything up in giving some proof as to why we should thank God.  As mentioned earlier, God will be on our side and rid us of our enemies, but God also helps us so that we may go up to Heaven and be with Him.  I know I’ve mentioned Heaven a couple times before, but I love doing it because Heaven will be the most awesome and most amazing place ever.

David was not killed by the Philistines, because God made it so.  God has a specific purpose for each and every one of us; God saved David from death, and as he should be doing, David is thanking God for this.

Whether it be something little or something big that we go through, we should be thanking God for delivering us from evil, helping make sure that we can go to Heaven and praise His wondrous name.

Reading through this psalm I think is very comforting, for it helps to revive our faith in God, because we know that He is always with us.

Next time you pay for something, or even just any time, say to yourself, “In God I trust” so that you may think of Psalm 56, and know that God is with you and will always be there for you.  O and make sure you thank Him for being there too. 🙂