"For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth." ~ Deuteronomy14:2
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
How Do I Praise Thee God? Let Me Count the Ways
Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits (Psalm 103:1-2)
Sometimes we also sing, "Praise the Lord, O my soul." What David is doing here is speaking over his own soul. He does it throughout the Psalms. There are times that he doesn't have that feeling inside, knows he should, and so he speaks it over himself. “Why so downcast, O my soul? Put your hope in God. Bless the LORD, O my soul.” David wakes up and knows that he should live this day with overflowing joy and thankfulness in worship to God. But that feeling is not in his soul and so he's telling his soul to praise God. “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” He's telling his soul to praise God, makes a transition and speaks over his own life.
Reasons to worship God. Reasons to praise God. Things that God has either done or are attributes of God by which we should bless Him, by which we should praise Him. And David begins to wake up his own soul by gazing into the glory of God and repeating that over himself, as though he were saying, "Soul, why are you not praising Him? Bless the LORD, O my soul. Praise the LORD, O my soul. All my inmost being, praise His holy name." Then he begins speaking truths, realities of who God is and what God has done over his own soul to wake himself up to the worship of God and all that God is. We are going to walk through these reasons that he gives for worshiping God.
At the beginning, the psalmist, David, is struggling with His own ability to praise God. He wakes up and doesn't feel praise; and so he starts speaking the reasons, the reasons to worship God, over himself. All of these things that God is and that God has done. By the end of it, he can't contain his praise anymore. It's not enough to waken his own soul, so he's looking at rocks and trees and angels and says that everything should wake up. "We've got to explode into worship. We've got to explode into praise." And he closes with these words: ”Praise the LORD, you his angels, you might ones who do His bidding, who obey His word. Praise the LORD, all His heavenly hosts, you His servants who do His will. Praise the LORD, all His works everywhere in His dominion. Praise the LORD, O my soul.”(Psalm 103:20-22).
Psalm 103’s Reasons to Praise God
1. “...who forgives all your sins” (Psalm 103:3a)
2. “…and heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:3b)
3. “Who redeems your life from the pit” (Psalm 103:4a)
4. “…and crowns you with love and compassion” (Psalm 103:4b)
5. “...who satisfies your desires with good things” (Psalm 103:5a)
6. “your youth is renewed like the eagle's” (Psalm 103:5b)
7. “The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed” (Psalm 103:6)
8. “He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel” (Psalm 103:7)
9. “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love” (Psalm 103:8)
10. “He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever” (Psalm 103:9)
11. “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10)
12. “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:11)
13. “as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12)
14. “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:13)
15. “for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14)
16. “As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more” (Psalm 103:15-16)
17. “But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:17a)
18. “and His righteousness with their children's children--with those who keep His covenant and remember to obey His precepts.” (Psalm 103:17b)
19. “The LORD has established His throne in heaven and His kingdom rules over all” (Psalm 103:19)
The Word Is Alive... Breathing Life Into All Who Believe
Defying Gravity, John Elefante
2012 - Precious, Pleasant Stones, We Being Refined to be His Jewels
“And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.” ~ Isaiah 54:12
"I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." ~ Isaiah 61:10
In youth, we were all used to handling stones or kicking at them with our feet. Who hasn't picked up a stone and flung it through the air once or twice. At the time, it probably never occurred to us that something so common as a rock or a stone might have any value to it. Maybe today you feel common and ordinary, but as a child of God you are unique and precious in His sight! Our heavenly Father keeps a rock collection made up of people just like you and me. God sees value even in a lost soul, and through the blood of Christ, He brings the truth to the world - the realization that rocks can change!! Have you ever tried to change the shape of a rock with your own hands? It's impossible! Only the hand of the Lord can change us, but change IS possible!!
"And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible." ~ Mark 10:27
As in the case of the rock tumbler, a coarse grit is used on the first cycle, then a progressively finer grit. It may seem at present that the Lord's tumblings in your life are too abrasive, but it won't always be so. The smoother you become, the less abrasive He'll have to be. Yield to the process of perfection, for the end results are worth it! According to the directions for a rock tumbler, once the tumbling begins, it must continue till the cycle is finished. If the contents of the barrel are left standing for an extended period of time, the mixture will harden and become one solid cement-like cake. It's that way in our lives too. We need continual tumbling to keep our hearts from hardening again and the Lord knows it better than we do! Don't lose hope, don't give up - just patiently wait on God to bring about your beauty.
"As for God, his way is perfect" ~ Psalm 18:30
"He hath made every thing beautiful in his time" ~ Eccles. 3:11
Yes, through the various elements of nature such as wind, water, heat and pressure, over time this change is brought about in rocks. You know what's interesting about rocks? Each one is different. Some are larger or smaller. Some types are softer or harder. All this affects the tumbling process. The rocks that remain roughest after the first cycle must be taken out of the barrel, removed from the smoother ones so that they can continue to become smoother yet in the second cycle... Would you be one of those rocks that hindered the refining of another?? For good tumbling, it is instructed not to mix different types of material together in the barrel. For example, agates and amethysts when tumbled and polished together will not give the best results because the agates will chip the amethysts and neither will take a good polish. The bags of stones provided are wisely selected so that each individual bag can be tumbled and polished in one batch. God knows what He is doing in all our lives. Trust His tumblings! He knows precisely what people to put together in particular circumstances or trials of life because it is best for those selected, in order that each might take a good polish.
Yes, different rocks go through different changes, but if they change enough, they finally end up looking very much alike!! That should be our goal, ladies! Each one of us will experience some tumblings in life as we go through various forms of pressure at different times and for various lengths of time. However, the end result should be the same - we should all come out to be more like the image and likeness of Jesus Christ! Our lives as Christians should be bordered or outlined with pleasant stones. This is the reason for the pressure God's designing hand places upon us individually as He carves and polishes out the image of His precious Son in us. He brings out that which would otherwise never be seen by the world!
”He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing. He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light” ~ Job 28:9-11
"And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head." ~ Ezekiel 16:12
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in...
About Raising the Standard Series and the Renaissance Concept of the Two Books
UPDATE: 12/2011 - Completed Raising the Standard study. Character Sketches Volumes 1-3 are in the blog archives. New direction for 2012.
The seed of this topic and of the following topics in the "Raising the Standard" series was found in two wonderful volumes I received several years ago as a gift from a friend, Character Sketches, From the Pages of Scripture, Illustrated in the World of Nature, Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts Inc. 1983. For anyone who is not familiar with this publication, it is a wonderful "two books" approach to youth ministry... not only giving Scriptural lessons, but also giving examples in nature and educating youth both with the observable facts and stories of animal behaviors, and profiling Biblical characters who best exemplify each godly character topic key point. Highly recommended for all, but most particularly a very cohesive bible study for young people. It is a beautifully illustrated and informative set.
What's the two books approach?
Today’s theologians should seek a coherent way to integrate what we are learning about the natural world through the best science with what the Holy Scriptures tell us about the God of creation and redemption. Perhaps we could revive the Renaissance concept of the Two Books. According to the concept of the Two Books, nature is a book of revelation. Nature reveals to us something about the mind of God the creator. St. Paul alludes to the book of nature.
“Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.” ~ Romans 1:20
The second book, of course, is the Bible. In this book we learn of God the redeemer. Nature gives us general revelation, whereas the Bible gives us special revelation. The two books together provide the resources for understanding reality in relationship to God, the creator and redeemer.
"But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee: and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell the: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee." ~ Job 12:7-8
Sometimes we also sing, "Praise the Lord, O my soul." What David is doing here is speaking over his own soul. He does it throughout the Psalms. There are times that he doesn't have that feeling inside, knows he should, and so he speaks it over himself. “Why so downcast, O my soul? Put your hope in God. Bless the LORD, O my soul.” David wakes up and knows that he should live this day with overflowing joy and thankfulness in worship to God. But that feeling is not in his soul and so he's telling his soul to praise God. “Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” He's telling his soul to praise God, makes a transition and speaks over his own life.
Psalm 103’s Reasons to Praise God
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