Psalm 148
This
morning I have been doing a fair amount of reflection upon “order.” I’m not talking about order in society (civil
order). Neither am I talking about order
with respect to arranging items (some might call this OCD). Rather, I am talking about order as it
pertains to one’s life. I’m talking
about order as it pertains to priorities.
I’m talking about order as it pertains to a person’s worldview.
What is
the most important thing in your life?
If you were told that you only had an hour to live and you only had time
to accomplish one thing, what would it be?
Think
about that for a second. Honestly, pause
in your reading of this blog and think about it.
I wonder
how many of us said something like, “Talk to my family.” Or maybe we said something like, “Make sure
that my paperwork is all in order and ready so I don’t leave a mess behind for
my family.” Or maybe we said something
like, “Go eat a fabulous meal.”
I wonder
how many of us said, “Praise God.” For
the record, if anyone reading this is feeling a bit convicted, know that I am
convicted as well. “Praising God” likely
wouldn’t have been my first response, either.
In fact, if I were to be honest about it – I would imagine that
genuinely praising God might be a bit tough to do when faced with the news of
my impending demise. I’d like to believe I would be able to work through my
humanity and get to that point. But I
don’t know just how instinctual it would be as a first response. I think there would be a ton of human emotion
and emotional baggage that I’d have to work through first.
However,
this does give me some reason to pause to think about my life. In the end, what is more important than
praising God? What is more important
than participating in the worship of the one being who can save us from both
life and death? What is more important
than acknowledging our God who is before us, our God who gives us life, our God
who provides for our every need, and our God who walks every step of life with
us?
There’s a
reason that I have gone down this devotional track today. As we read through this psalm, the focus of
the psalm is clearly on the creation giving praise to God. It isn’t just about human beings praising God
but rather the whole creation. The
stars, the sun, and the moon praise God.
The heavens praise God. The
earth, the sea, and the creatures of the deep praise God. Even elemental things like fire and wind and
hail and snow praise God. The mountains
and the hills praise God. The fruit
trees and the other trees praise God. The
beasts and the creeping insects praise God.
The whole creation praises God as it lives and breathes the life that
God has bestowed upon it.
Even the
people on the earth praise God. We
praise Him because He has done marvelous things. He has raised up His people. He has shown us true life. We have every reason to praise Him.
So that
got me wondering. Do I praise Him all
that well? I mean, I love Him. I genuinely do. I am so grateful for His creation. I am so thankful that He sent us Jesus to die
on the cross for our sake. I am
anticipating eternal life with an incredible sense of hope. I genuinely believe that salvation only comes
through Him.
But do I
praise Him? I know all those things
above, but do I praise Him? Do I
honestly stop my life and praise Him like I should?
It’s easy
to lie to oneself, so I’ve found that one of the best ways to prevent me from
lying to myself is to ask the hard questions.
If I had an hour to live, how much of that time would be spent praising
God? If the answer is not much … might
that expose the reality that my priorities aren’t exactly lined up the way they
should be? And if my priorities in the
time of crisis aren’t lined up right, what does that say about the possibility
that my priorities aren’t lined up in the rest of my life, too?
I need to
praise God more. I am His creation; I
should be praising Him for that truth!
He loves me, He saves me, He guides me, He never leaves me, and He calls
me home! I need to praise Him more.
How about
you?
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