I pray you are doing well. Yesterday was phenomenal at church. For the actual liturgy, my pastor wove together multiple celebrations – Swiss National Day, 191 years since the Emancipation Proclamation in the British West Indies, and 63 years of Jamaica’s independence from Britain (the actual date is August 6). It truly felt like Freedom Sunday.
I’m tempted to focus our attention on freedom, but let’s continue our reflection on Psalm 34. Consider Today’s Holy Nougat.
Psalms 34:1 NIV
[1] I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.
At All Times
I invite us to recall the circumstances behind this psalm. David, a shepherd anointed as king, but living in exile. While exiled, he had to hide in plain sight by pretending insanity
in enemy territory. Those don’t sound like conditions under which the average person would be inclined to praise God. But King David did.
Self-Check
What is our default position when God doesn’t come through for us in the way we expected? Why?
Application
Siblings, I remember being at the worship tent for WCC’s Assembly, when the liturgist assured us that ‘all means all’. It certainly doesn’t mean some, part, or even full-time. No, for full-time doesn’t mean every single moment. I guess a good synonym is the phrase, ‘in every moment’. Or, if contextualised to circumstance rather than time, it’s ‘come what may’.
Now our brother David may not be as famous as Job for his patience – they faced two different situations – but David’s faith was legendary. His commitment to praising God at all times despite all he’d faced while awaiting the royal throne challenges us today to do likewise. Whether he was facing off with wild animals, giants, despotic kings, or avenging enemies, David focused on God’s goodness to him. He praised God passionately and continuously.
How about us? Are we able to see the goodness of God in all our circumstances, so that we’re praising all day? Perhaps if it was framed as a TikTok challenge many of us would try it. Seriously though folks, what if we challenged ourselves to praise the Lord in every situation?
This is the kind of praise that recognises the subject of our praise as being worthy of aspiration to the extent that we would kneel before them. It includes congratulations for a job well done, as well as giving credit to someone for their work.
In accepting David’s challenge, we could identify moments worth kneeling before our God, making God the only subject of our praise, and crediting God for what God has done with, for, and in us. And perhaps in the rough moments, simply praise God for being God.
Point to Ponder
Will we take David’s Praise Challenge and bless God at all times?
