Praise is the Answer

Here is another excerpt from my recent bible study presented in March at my church:

I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
² I will be glad and rejoice in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

³ When my enemies turn back,
They shall fall and perish at Your presence. (Psalm 9:1-3)

David starts off with a demand on himself to do 5 things with all of his heart…:

·   1. Praise the Lord -

I love when David says to do these things with a whole heart – with all your heart.  I think that means with everything that is within you.  We are not talking about some wishy-washy half-hearted mouthing of words here!

 “There brings a certain need to praise the Lord that come upon us when we see God defend us, when we see God’s hand of protection upon us.”  (Scott Hoag)

·   2. Tell of the wonderful things God has done:  This means testify.  Simply remember and telling the great things God has done is a way to praise Him. (Don't you hate it when your church has a testimony service and no one will get up and speak praises to God?  If you're alive and breathing, you have a reason to praise God!)

Don’t be like the guy Clarke talks about:  “Christians, so called, when they meet, seldom speak about God!  Why is this? Because they have nothing to say.”

·   3. Be glad  - express gladness and joy in God.  Count your blessings and it is bound to make gladness in your heart when you see how blessed you are!

4. Rejoice –  Strong's Concordance says the word used here for rejoice is awlats. Aw-lats' means: A primitive root; to jump for joy, that is, exult: - be joyful, rejoice, triumph.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Phil. 4:4

Rejoice because your names are written in heaven Luke 10:20

Rejoice always, 1 Thess 5:16

Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 1 Peter 1:8

·   5. Sing….

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Ephesians 5:19

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Col. 3:16

Why is David so determined to do these things?  Verse 3 of Psalms 9 tells us it is because he has seen his enemies turn back and stumble….defeated!

There is an old song, “Victory in the Shout,” which tells us to praise God BEFORE the victory.  Think about it, the city of Jericho fell when God’s people shouted. They praised before they saw anything to shout about! (See Joshua 6:1-20 for the whole story.)

Church, it’s a mindset. We can’t let ourselves think and react the way the world does when we are facing trouble.  The only way we can respond biblically is when we saturate ourselves with praise.  If we are filled with praise, we won’t have room for fear and doubt.

David wasn’t afraid when he faced Goliath.  Why?  Because he had spent his life praising God and he was filled with trust.  There was no room for fear!

I am linking up today with these ladies:

Michelle, on Mondays, at Graceful:  Faith in the Everyday

and Jennifer, on Wednesdays, at Getting Down With Jesus (if she blogs from Haiti this week)