Tag Archives: Meditate

Singing with the King (21) – Every Day

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Every day I will bless You and l will praise your name for ever and ever. (Psalm 145:2)

Shout to the Lord5In our contemporary, over-booked, over-stressed culture, how often do you praise the Lord? Once a week? But then perhaps Sunday is more about the performance, or the preaching. So how much time do you really spend praising the Lord? David realized praising God once a week at tabernacle worship just wasn’t enough. It become a daily event. And as such, David became quite creative on how to praise the Lord.

The first thing He does is I will extol (rûm) …to raise up, to be high and lofty, to lift up

I will bless (barak)… to kneel, be blessed, be adored

I will praise (halal)… to boast, to glory, to shine, to flash

I will meditate (siyach)… to muse, study, ponder, to talk, sing, speak

I will tell (saphar)… to take account, to number, to declare, to reckon (verb); a scribe (noun)

My mouth will speak (dabar)… to promise, commune, command, declare

Of course praising God this much will probably get people’s attention. And you not only have their attention, you have their involvement in praise. It’s contagious.

Many Hands in Worship

One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts.

Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts.

They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness and will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.

Your godly ones shall bless You.

They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power; to make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts and the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.

All flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

So why should we praise Him every day?

The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds. The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. (v. 15-19)

What do you think would happen if you praised Him every day?

 

Singing with the King (6) – Day & Night Delight

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But his delight is in the law of the LORD and in His law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:2)

Lion at SunsetIS your delight in the Law of the LORD? The Hebrew word for it is also translated as: pleasure, desire, please, purpose, and care. Two well known verses show how this word is used in other parts of Scripture:

She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. (Proverbs 3:15)

But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, he will see His offspring, he will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. (Isaiah 53:10)

So what is it we are delighting, desiring, and pleased about? The torah—which is Hebrew for law.

Not only must we delight in the law, but we meditate on it. Meditate is a colorful word; it means to moan, growl, utter, muse, mutter, devise, plot, speak, to roar, groan, and imagine.

One ancient saint translated it as chatter, much like the birds. Is the Law of the Lord something we talk and chatter about; but unlike the birds we do it day and night. Do we roar the word at night, much like the lions? Do we mutter, growl and moan when we wrestle with it until we find a blessing? Do we devise and plot ways to extract its meanings and applications?

The young lions roar after their prey and seek their food from God. (Psalm 104:21)

The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due time. (Psalm 145:15)

Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)

All these actions we should carry out day and night. We meditate on the Word during the day, so that men might see our good works. We meditate on it throughout the night so we do no deeds that are dark or are done in darkness.

Let your de-light shine!