Praising God
TEXT: PSALM 117:1,2
KEY VERSE: “O praise the Lord, all ye nations, praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great towards us, and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise ye the Lord” (Psalm 117:2)
All societies have various forms of rewarding and motivating positive performance and behaviour. In the place of work, in educational institutions in the civil society, in the religious organizations they confer awards, encomiums and accolades on deserving persons. The question is, how do we appreciate God’s goodness and favour upon us as mortals and products of His creation? He deserves our praise, adoration thanksgiving and worship.
In the passage before us today, we need to consider these short but ennobling verses of praise to God for His unlimited love. No wonder John the Beloved, in his epistle (1 John 4:8), pointedly declared that God is love. His love is so great. When one considers how, for instance, He bore patiently with Saul-turned-Paul, in spite of his havoc against the early church; how He eventually convicted and saved him and mightily used him to propagate the gospel to the ends of the earth. What a great manifestation of the depth of God’s love.
For many of us who were rascals and scoundrels before we became born again, God was patient with us. He bore with our shortcomings and dullness of hearing until His love prevailed and brought us to Him. Some of us who would otherwise have spent eternity in hell were saved and transformed and became specimens of God’s grace and carriers of the message which we once spurned. Now we are enjoying the blessings and benefits of the Kingdom. And, one of these days we shall be with Him in His Kingdom when He comes to take His own. We need to praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord!
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Have you offered the sacrifice of praise today?