"Sing for joy to God our strength; shout
aloud to the God of Jacob! Begin the music, strike the tambourine, play the
melodious harp and Lyre" Psalm 81:1&2"Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my
innermost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord all my soul, and forget
not all His benefits-
Who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who
satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the
eagle’s.
The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.”
Psalm 103:1-6
“I love you oh Lord, My strength.” Psalm 18:1
“I will praise
you, oh Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders I will be glad
and rejoice…” Psalm 9:1&2
“I will sing to The Lord for He has been good
to me” Psalm 13:6
It’s really easy, for me, to make God into a bunch of ideas. The doctrines about God become God. I take away all His humanity, His personality. God and the life of God becomes philosophical and academic and I lose the vigor I once had.
Tonight I was reading through the psalms (something I haven’t done for a while) and was reminded that this life in Christ is one that gives much reason to celebrate. Passion for God exists not in books or ideas or doctrines not in discourse, arguments, or theology. Passion is in the “innermost being.” I so often forget that I’m in love with God.
Discussion and theology has it’s place but we need to take time to stop and just be. At some point we need to stop discovering and proving truth and celebrate the truth we‘ve discovered and proved. We constantly think and argue our theologies. I often talk about redemption and restoration but at some point I have to stop talking about it and just live in it. Don’t I?
Do you ever stop, after arguing and rationalizing the goodness of God, and just live in what you constantly talk about, the fact that God is good? I remember when I first started learning about the Kingdom of God. I remember learning that God is redeeming everything. Sometimes I used to just sit and take it in… God is going to make everything good again. Do you ever just stop and celebrate it? Sing out from your heart?
I was reminded by the psalms to celebrate, to bust out the tambourine and actually realize, for myself, the great truth I profess.
Try saying “I love you, God,” when was the last time you did that?
“…[God] forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Remember when you first understood what that meant? So, praise the Lord from your innermost being. Praise Him because He’s been good to you. Tell Him you love Him. Remember… it’s simple.
4 comments:
Beautiful post Wes. So many times I have found myself in a worship service and I am just sitting there singing the songs but it just feels empty sometimes for me. I think I would be safe to say we have all felt this way at one time or another. The times when I feel that I am most relating to and fellowshiping with God are thoes times when I realize God is more than this idea, but he is a relational being. I think it is so important that we remember never to forget that God is so much more and so much bigger than any idea we come up with.
I agree Ash, and I relate with that empty feeling. I remember once someone said that we were performing for God- He in the audience and us on the risers. I think that's all wrong though. We aren't just doing some performance for His entertainment. I have always felt that singing praise to Him was interactive. When we dance, we dance with Him, when we raise our voice He's right there letting the melodies flow over Him too. He's not just watching us celebrate, He's there sharing joy with us.
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