Psalm 34: 1-3
"I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together."
When should we praise God?
The Bible, in our text above answers this question with one word......continually.
David, inspired of God says: "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth."
In Psalm 71:6 the Psalmist again says, ".......my praise shall be continually of thee."
Psalm 70:4 - "........and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified."
The writer of the Hebrews in Hebrews 13:15 says, "By him (that is Jesus)
therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name."
St. Luke tells us that prior to the day of Pentecost the disciples were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. (St. Luke 24:53)
Paul writing to the Thessalonians, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit said (1 Thess 5:18)
"In everything give thanks (continually praise the Lord) for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
Someone has said there are two times to praise the Lord. When we feel like it.....and when we don't feel like it. I would like to rephrase that and say - first of all - we should praise God in the pleasant times. You may say that everybody does that... It's easy to praise God on the mountain top... It is easy to praise Him when we feel good and everything is pleasant; when seemingly there is no trouble or trials pressing us.
I believe God intends that our life for Him should be a pleasure. But, many times if we are not careful we can be so taken up with our pleasures that we take them for granted, thus taking the Lord for granted. We forget that every good and perfect gift is from our Heavenly Father. In the midst of the pleasant times we most definitely should praise Him.....we should praise our Heavenly Father.
But, we should not only praise Him in the pleasant times but we should also praise Him in the painful times! "In" everything give thanks! "In" the midst of pleasant things and "in" the midst of painful situations and circumstances. "In" the times of feeling good and "in" the times of feeling bad. Praise God in times of gladness and praise God in times of sadness! Do this when you are on the mountain top, and do so when you are in the valley! Amen?
Matthew Henry, one of the great preachers of the past was once attacked by robbers. Meditating on his experience he penned these words in his diary..."Praise the Lord because I was never robbed before this...Praise the Lord though they took my purse they did not take my life....Praise the Lord, though they took my purse it could have had a lot more money in it......Praise the Lord that I was the one that was robbed and not the one doing the robbing....Praise the Lord , He has taken crime out of me and put Christ in me."
Psalm 70:4 says, "....let such as love my salvation say continually let God be magnified."
Let God be magnified "in" all situations, "in" all circumstances and "in" all times!
Don't we all have a lot to praise God for today?
Oh magnify the Lord with me and let us exhalt His name together!
There are two kinds of magnification.
There is the microscopic - which makes the little look big. This is not the kind of magnifying David is talking about because there is nothing little about our God. He is a great big wonderful God!
Then, there is the telescopic. This type of magnification brings out the true proportion. It brings the object closer to us. It makes conspicuous the already big. This the the type of magnification that David is referring to in Psalm 70:4... magnifying God, exalting God and making Him the great God that He is and showing His true proportions.
The more we continually magnify and praise God the bigger He becomes and the bigger He becomes the smaller our troubles, trials, temptations and needs become.
Today as you are reading this, say out loud, "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall be continually in my mouth."
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