Psalm 145:21
I do not have a great deal of time to share all of my meditations this week. The Convention keeps us all running a pretty constant race. Rachelle and I were back in our rooms last night after midnight and must quickly get around in order to join thousands of others in flocking back for the first business session at 8:00 am (it's already 6:20 here).
I just completed a couple of readings from Scripture and also our worship devotional which included a selection from Psalm 145. I went ahead and read all of that Psalm and in thinking about worship would like to just say a word about verse 21.
Of course, I would imagine that all of us would gather that in seeking to become true worshipers that a commitment of our human faculties to uplifting the praise of our Lord would be necessary. "My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord."
Is this a commitment to DOING something that is NOT already being done? Do we need to recommit our lives to singing praises? How about to praying praises? Or even saying good things about God? Is that what the Psalmist is calling us too? If I were a bettin' man, I would wager that most of us already do those things--at least once a week.
I think this is more about a commitment to STOP doing what IS being done. Let me just quickly reference James 3:1-12. I would argue today that becoming true worshipers, for many of us who have been doing it for many years, is less about what we need to start doing and more about what we need to stop doing.
My prayer is that many of us--and that includes myself--would connect with God these next few weeks on an incredibly profound level. Perhaps the reason that is a present need is not because we haven't been doing the right things but because we have contaminated those actions with impure motives, impure thoughts, impure ambitions, impure attitudes. Perhaps what we are looking for is right there waiting for us to stop what we are saying about others and to commit to only speaking the praise of the Lord. Wouldn't that make a significant difference in our worship? Wouldn't that make a significant difference in our church? Wouldn't that make a significant difference in our world?
My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.
Psalm 145:21
If you haven't already, I encourage you to read Psalm 145:1-7. If you have, I would encourage you to read it again in light of the above. It says a little more to me now.
