20/10/12

Sing, Praise and Glory

Psalms 108: 1 - O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.


Day by day the more we study scriptures the more we come to know how little we know of it. Things we thought were simple sentences turn out to be doors to vast resources of knowledge and understanding.

When I started reading the Bible I would read 2 to 3 chapters a day. Then as I started understanding scriptures the amount I would read a day did not increase but on the contrary reduced from 1 chapter to a paragraph to just one sentence a day. Studying one sentence in depth would cause a flood of knowledge and understanding of the Kingdom of God that at times I would mentally prostate myself to the Lord and say Lord enough for today. It would be just too much to receive all that which just one sentence would bring.

Today's message is a demonstration of what I stated. When we read the sentence it sounds as a very simple sentence, one would say what is so magnificent about it? It is only when we analyse it closely we see things open up.

What caught my attention were the last words 'with my glory'. We know in the Kingdom of God glory belongs to the Lord so this sentence caused me to dig in.

In the Bible there are many Hebrew words which are translated into the English word 'glory'. The word used here is the Hebrew word 'kabowd' which refers to the abundance; it does not refer to the magnificence connected to beauty and praise which we associate with the Lord. So in this scripture the Psalmist says with all that we have which includes everything physical and otherwise. Then I tried to check what the Psalmist states as we will do with all we have, and the English words state as sing and praise. On closer check these words too were not the simple sing and praise we understand in English; then opened the floodgates.

I will try to be brief and to the point so that this message is as short as possible and yet productive.

The Hebrew word 'shiyr' translated as sing is connected to the Hebrew word 'shuwr' which means to travel. This traveling means not just moving. The word 'shiyr' in English would mean a strolling minstrel. Even the word praise is not the simple English praise. The Hebrew word 'zamar' used here is to do with worshiping using musical instruments, which means playing or actually using something.

Today's message the psalmist says when our heart is stable and not anxious or depressed or full of lust or in fear, we will move with joy and praising the Lord with all that we have. The movement is not just dance but also means impacting people around us and the situation around us. The praise does not mean only vocal praise using our mouths but means using everything we have like our gifts, our finances, our time, our strength etc...

We normally think worshiping God means just lifting our hands and giving praise vocally. Today's message says our worship should also be in our living and the things that we do, and that is only possible when our hearts are stable. Our lives are not our worship because we are always full of worries, full of fears, full of worldly desires, full of anxiety, full of depression etc. and they are there because we do not know God or have faith in Him.

Let us show these things the door out of our lives and having faith in the Lord, building an relationship in Him let our lives been a pleasing sacrifice of praise unto the Lord.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord, we are an external Christians and less Christians inside. Lord, we pray our worship be not restricted to Sunday mornings or those few times we attend events. Let our every moment in our lives be worship to You. Let everything we do glorify You and give praise to You. Help us Lord to use everything we have to worship You and affect the lives of all those around us...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
Psalms 86:12 - I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.

Proverbs 18:1 - He that separateth himself seeketh his own desire, And rageth against all sound wisdom.

Matthew 22:37 - Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Psalms 29:2 - Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

Luke 4:8 - And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.


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