Psalm 147:1 - "Praise ye the Lord; for it is good to sing praises unto our God." and this is a comely and appropriate thing for us to blend praise and prayer.
The difference between praise and thanksgiving:
When we thank God, we are thanking Him for what He has done for us in
terms of providing and taking care of us; we praise Him for what He is
in Himself. In praise we are drawing closer and nearest to the worship
of Heaven, where the Angels and the Redeemed find the highest exercise
of their faculties in assigning praise, and honour, and glory to God. It
is of great importance in our private devotions to find nothing more
helpful than to recite the "Lord's Prayer" before asking for any gift at
the hand of God. In this way, It seems to put God in His right place,
and to bow our souls before Him in the attitude of adoration and
praise. "It is good to sing praises, and praise is comely."
Let us praise His condescending love: "He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name..."
(Psalms 147:1-6)... God counts the number of stars as a shepherd tells
his sheep. The Psalmist compares the constellations or the celestial
Spheres to a flock of sheep, which their shepherd is kind of driving
them through space, the conception of suns, planets and galaxies. What a
wonderful sight that our infinite God can come down from His heavenly
dwelling and grab our little puny lives, and take special notice and
attention of the outcasts, the broken-hearted, the wounded souls, and
the weak. None are too small and insignificant for Our God's Notice.
Just like a mother is most careful and thoughtful for the smallest and
most ailing child in her family, so does God's tenderest, dearest,
strongest and most efficient caring and help is displayed towards the
neediest and most helpless of His children. God always seeks the lost
sheep and the prodigal sons and daughters that are still in the far off
country.
Let us Praise God's Work in Providence:
The Psalmist felt that God was always working in nature, and that
everything was due to the direct action of His Providence. Jesus
confirmed this when He said that no sparrow fell to the ground without
the Father's notice. The pure in heart, the child like,and the meek have
this prerogative of seeing God's hand in all things. God is, God is
everywhere active and energetic, and therefore there is no point of space, and no moment of time, in which God does not operate. " ... let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name through Jesus..." (Hebrew 13:15)
Fulfil
in us, O God, those desires of goodness which Thou hast created in our
hearts, and perfect the work of faith, that Jesus Christ may be
glorified in our lives.... Amen
(for) Taniela Fonua (AKA) Lapaifonua
No comments:
Post a Comment