SUNDAY 17th
Psalm 9
NIV (vv1-2) ‘I will give thanks to you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.’
ESV (vv1-2) ‘I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.’
Well, today we would normally be making our way to the Church building, the house of God in Caris Street to worship the Lord and come to spend time in fellowship together, but because of the decision we have made to close the Church for a few weeks it is not possible, but, it doesn’t mean we can’t still praise the Lord and give thanks to him. Our surroundings in that respect are not important, it is the expression that comes from our heart and out through our lips that matters, in the words of an older chorus, ‘Wherever I am I’ll praise him, whenever I can I’ll praise him.’ We can worship him anywhere as we have been captivated by his love toward us and we can thank him anywhere as our hearts overflow with thanksgiving.
David was a man who constantly desired to worship the Lord and to give him thanks, and at the same time he loved to express to others what the LORD had done for him, ‘I will tell of your wonderful deeds’ (v1) ‘Tell among the people his wonderful deeds!’ (v11) In a later Psalm he talks again of the wondrous deeds of the LORD ‘You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.’ (40:5) The deeds and thoughts of the LORD toward David were so many they were more than could be told or recounted.
Worship, thanksgiving and testimony should be part and parcel of the life of every believer, Worship which comes out of a heart that is full of thanksgiving or gratitude for what the LORD has done for us and as a result it should excite us to want to tell others. I grew up in an environment in Church where opportunity was always given for the congregation to give testimony of the goodness of God as a part of the collective worship and praise, the sharing of testimony was often a means of igniting praise and worship as we rejoiced together in the goodness of God and his hand at work upon the life of a brother or sister in Christ.
God is good, God is faithful, God is daily bestowing his blessing upon us and although we may not be together today, don’t let that stop you from worshipping the Lord, don’t let it stop you from coming before him with a heart of thanksgiving, and don’t let it stop you from telling others of what the LORD has done for you, tell someone through a text message or via a phone call, so that together you may rejoice in our wonderful God and Saviour.
The song I mentioned earlier goes on to say, ‘I’ll praise the name of Jesus, lift up the name of Jesus for the name of Jesus lifted me.’ Lift him up today with your praises.