"Shout Joyfully to the Lord"

Psalm 98:4-9 "Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. sing to the Lord with the harp, with harp and the sound of a psalm, with trumpets and the sound of a horn; shout joyfully before the Lord, the King.

Let the sea roar, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it; Let the rivers clap their hands; Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, For He is coming to judge the earth, with righteousness He shall judge the world, and the peoples with equity."

Psalm 96: 10  "Say among the nations, 'The Lord reigns! The world also is firmly established, it shall not be moved."

You know, sometimes we just have to stop what we are doing and take time to praise the Lord!  As I was reading the above verses, one led to another...Psalm 95, Psalm 96, Psalm 97, Psalm 98, 99, 100...All Psalms of praise and thanksgiving to God.  They each  talk about the power and majesty of our God, Who is "most high above all the earth; exalted far above all gods."  (Psalm 97:9)  Verse 4-5 says that "His lightnings light the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord."
In the New Testament, Luke 19: 39-40, it says that some of the Pharisees told Jesus to rebuke the people for rejoicing at His entrance into Jerusalem, but Jesus said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out!"

How awesome is our God!  How marvelous is the Lord, Our Savior and King!  It is good to sing praises to Him...Praise lifts the broken hearted and gives comfort to the weary and weak.  When I am feeling sad,  lonely or afraid, if I start singing praises to God, whether it be in the form of a hymn, reading the Psalms, or calling out my own words of praise,  I cannot help but be lifted out of the gloom.  My focus turns from looking inward at my own struggles and problems to an outward expression of joy and thankfulness.

Do I always feel like praising God? Am I really that shallow that I can just turn off the sorrow and turn on the praise? No, I don't always feel like praising. So often my grief and pain is so deep that I don't even know how to express it adequately.  That is when this gift of praise takes control...I believe it is a gift from God to be able to praise Him in the midst of the crisis...it is not something I can do in and of myself. It often is an act of the will...I will praise Him, even when I don't feel like it. And when I deliberately set about to praise Him, something beautiful takes place.  There is a healing balm that covers my soul, causing the tears to flow where before they could not...and opens my heart to joy. That is the gift of praise...which, in turn, brings about more praise! 

"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice!" 

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:4, 6-7

I guess I just needed to take this "praise break" today...for our God is an awesome God!!

Amen.