Psalm 113:1-9 (GW) “Hallelujah! You servants of the LORD, praise him. Praise the name of the LORD. Thank the name of the LORD now and forever. From where the sun rises to where the sun sets, the name of the LORD should be praised. The LORD is high above all the nations. His glory is above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God? He is seated on his high throne. He bends down to look at heaven and earth. He lifts the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from a garbage heap. He seats them with influential people, with the influential leaders of his people. He makes a woman who is in a childless home a joyful mother. Hallelujah!”
Thanksgiving is over. I’m sitting in my office on Black Friday early in the morning. Usually I would be laying in my bed listening to the different ones in my house hustling around getting ready to head out and catch the “good deals.” I would then go and meet up with them for breakfast and we would head back to the house for some time together of laughing and talking about all the “rude” people. This year is different. As I sat yesterday a flood of memories came over me all day long. A flood of being at my Grandmother’s house with all the family, sitting around all the tables in her dining room and living room. Hearing all the talk about family, politics, and church and just catching up with each other. Then we would gather in the living room for a mini-concert from all the grandkids as one by one they would step and play the piano, trumpet, violin, horns, or just dance around the room. Grandmother would lead the group with laughter. It would turn into quite an afternoon.
As those memories came to mind yesterday and this morning I started thinking about this blog. I have been meaning to write this for some time now and just haven’t had the right words to put down. Isn’t God amazing how He works out His timing? The Psalmist here starts out with, “Hallelujah!” You can’t do any better than that in praising the Lord. Later today I have a funereal to conduct of a very dear lady. She was known among her family as the “Energizer Bunny.” She was always on the go. She was always praising the Lord. She was always in prayer for people. She will be greatly missed. However, I have been looking for a particular book that I use for conducting these services. I knew that I had placed it on my bookshelves and haven’t been able to find it. I walked in my office this morning to look one more time. I moved some papers on a shelve that I had looked on before under a paper that I had looked under before, and there it was. “Hallelujah!” There was a flood of praise that overwhelmed me over a book. I started praising the Lord right there in my office. When I think of how good God is to me.
The Psalmist says that He raised me from the trash heap. He raised me from the dust. He lifted me out from the deep miry clay. When I was lost in sin, He looked down and saw me there and lifted me out. How can I not praise Him? I treated Him so badly throughout my life. I have treated Him badly just this week. There were times when I should have stopped and spent time in prayer, I should have spent time in His Word, and I should have spent time praising Him. Instead I got wrapped up in my own things. Yet when I needed something He came through for me. How can I not praise Him? Here I am on Black Friday. I’m a rich man with a blessed legacy from my Grandparents, from a rich blessing of being with family yesterday, from the fact that God so loved me that He reached down to where I was, to where I am and meets my needs. I not only thank Him, I PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME.
I encourage you this week to think about what the Lord has done for you. I encourage you this week to think about what the Lord is doing for you. I encourage you this week to think about what the Lord might do for you if you let Him. Then take time to not just thank Him, but to really Praise Him. He is so worthy of our praises, so you think? I want to thank Kathy Neff for giving me this Psalm to read and meditate on; it is a really good one. Until next time
Pastor Rob
