Because 50 Day 7
Scripture Reading: Psalm 113:1-3
1Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, you his servants;
praise the name of the Lord.
2Let the name of the Lord be praised,
both now and forevermore.
3From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the Lord is to be praised.
Today’s Prayer:
God, what does it look like in my life for me to daily praise You?
Going Deeper:
I remember running to the campus post office and checking my box. My face would light up when I saw an envelope holding a card in it. The cards were from my girlfriend who I was madly in love with. I can recall racing back to my dorm room and dialing my voice mail. I’d wait with expectation in the hopes that she had left me a message. Later that night, when our day was winding down, we’d get on the phone and spend way too much money on a long distance call so that we could connect and talk. What drove that desire for communication on a daily basis? In a word: love.
It can radically transform your spiritual walk when you understand that God loves you with a deep longing love. We can connect with Him every day. He not only allows it, He wants it. How does it change how you view God to know that He wants to spend time with you daily? God does not want to be far off; He longs to be close to You, connecting with you.
The psalmist instructed all the servants of God to praise the name of the Lord. The psalmist makes a couple of references to time (one in verse 2 and another in verse 3) in this passage. The reference in verse two we get a glimpse of the life-cycle of praise. When will the name of the Lord no longer be praised? Understanding that the worship of God is timeless and extends into eternity, what does that tell you about the importance of it?
Verse three gives us a glimpse of what that worship was like on a day-in day-out basis. The psalmist lived thousands of years before the discovery of electricity. Life in the Old Testament revolved around the sun. When the sun rose, the day began. The laborers would go into the fields. The shepherds would take their sheep out of the pen. Women would go to draw water. The business of life began with the sunrise. In the same manner, without electricity, most of the people settled in for the night shortly after the sunset. The psalmist uses the picture of the sun rising and setting to remind us that every moment of our our day is to be filled with praises to God. How can you praise God in the midst of your everyday life? What does it look like in your life for you to praise God daily?