“They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.” (Psalm 145:5-7)
Like most of you, when I think about praising God, the picture in my mind involves standing in an audience full of people singing words together as we read them off of a screen. And that’s a good thing we do as part of our worship service. I think we should praise God in that way.
But notice the form praise takes in these three verses from Psalm 145. In each of these six phrases, the praiser does something – speak, meditate, tell, proclaim, celebrate, or sing – that is focused on some aspect of God’s greatness – his majesty, works, deeds, goodness, or righteousness.
I think I need to add some of these things to my praise playlist. I need to praise God by talking about his greatness to someone, by meditating on his wonderful works alone in my thoughts, by proclaiming from my Facebook or Twitter status, maybe, his great deeds. How could I celebrate his goodness this week? Would you want to come to that party?
Think: How often do you praise God outside of church? What good things have you said or thought or enjoyed about him this last week or two at home, online, at work or at school?
Pray: Ask God to help you to find more ways to praise him more often for specific things that make him great.
Do: Pick one of the six phrases in today’s passage and make it true of you this week.