I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will praise my God to my last breath! May he be pleased by all these thoughts about him, for I rejoice in the Lord. Let all sinners vanish from the face of the earth; let the wicked disappear forever. As for me—I will praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Psalm 104:33-35
Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Sin to him; yes. Sing his praises. Tell everyone about his miracles. Exult in his holy name; O worshipers of the Lord rejoice! Search for the Lord and His strength, ad keep on searching. Psalm 105:1-4
My heart is confident in you O God; my heart is confident. No wonder I can sing your praises. Wake up, my heart! Wake up, O lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song. Psalm 57:7-8 (NLT)
While I live I will praise the LORD; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. Psalm 146:2I will sing praise with my whole being; I will sing praise! I love waking up with a song in my heart and praise on my lips. You cannot start your day wrong this way. Whether you forgot to do the dishes last night or your boss has a pile of paperwork for you to do, nothing is too hard to tackle when you have His praises in your heart and on your lips. Sometimes, when I can’t sing aloud because I am in public, I find myself drumming a tune on my leg or a table that has to do with the praises I am thinking in my head. God can hear our thoughts, so we can sing praises without making a sound. He can hear us sing praises. Sometimes while thinking on the wonderful things He has done, I know I must have a huge grin on my face. I wonder what people think as I wander around with a silly grin like someone in love? Well I am in love! I am in love with the Lord!
In Psalm 104 this morning I was reminded of how much He has done; how much planning He put into creating our world. In the news we hear constantly how people are responsible for keeping the world in good condition. There is a certain amount of truth to this, but God has planned for floods and famine at just the time He needs to bring us back to His presence.
Throughout the history of Israel we can see that God could have wiped out the whole lot, but He forgave them. Why? Because they turned their hearts toward home! They returned to their first love, they repented and were obedient to love and follow His direction and commands. When they did what was right in the sight of God they prospered. When they did “what was right in their own eyes” they failed.
Is God so fickle that he would stop doing what he has always done? Does He not today place things in our paths that cause us to draw nearer to Him? Both good and bad happen, but how we use that bump in the road shows where our hearts are.
Our God wants us to sing His praises. He wants us to do as David and rejoice at all He has brought us through; at the forgiveness He gave us at just the time we needed it; and at the love He lavished upon us when we were alone in the world. David sang praises with his whole being - heart, mind, soul and strength! That is what I call my whole being. In everything we do, we need to sing praise by doing it for Him, in His honor, to give Him glory. In everything we do!
Laundry—as unto the Lord.
Dishes—as unto the Lord.
Teaching—as unto the Lord. (Whatever the age you teach).
Pastor—as unto the Lord.
Garbage collecting—as unto the Lord.
Secretary, administrative assistant, etc.—as unto the Lord.
Whatever we do, we give Him praise if we do it as unto the Lord!
So what does it mean to do something as unto the Lord? To do it as if it is for the Lord alone. Do it as if He is our boss. Do it as if He directed us to it. Do it as if He personally asked us to do the task. Whatever the Lord has put before you, it is there for His purposes to be accomplished. Why not do it for His glory, as unto Him and give Him praise for it?
Dear heavenly Father, help us to do the even the minute things just for you. Help us to praise you for the small things as well as the miracles you do in our lives. Help us to praise you in all things. Let us sing praise with all our whole being today! In Jesus' name, amen.
Suggested Readings: Psalm 104:1-35; Psalm 105:1-45; Psalm 146:1-10; Psalm 108:1-13; Psalm 149:1-9.