“I will praise You, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will tell of all Your marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” [Psalm 9:1-2 NKJV]
Notice those two words … I will … that are so prevalent in the first two verses of Psalm 9? I will praise. I will tell. I will be glad. I will rejoice. I will sing.
We have so much for which to praise our God. When He called us to Himself and saved us, He gave us enough to praise and rejoice in Him for all eternity. But then our God gave even more. He gave us the righteousness of Christ Jesus our Lord. He gave us the right to be called His children – God’s children! He gave us the opportunity to tell others about Him. Now we are to praise and tell and rejoice, be glad and sing about all that the LORD has done.
To be silent amid all that God has done for us is to be ungrateful. When we refuse or neglect our praise of God, we essentially harm ourselves. God may be saddened by the lack of gratitude He sees in His children, but He is not harmed by it. We alone suffer when we refuse to praise God for praise is a means to spiritual growth and health.
Praise lifts our burdens, invigorates our hopes. Praise will add to our faith and give us the incentive to be all we can be for the glory of God.
When others see us praise in every and all circumstance, it also benefits their spiritual walk. I have been strengthened when I see other saints walking through difficulties with praise on their lips and joy in their hearts. I know I can follow their examples.
So, let’s shore up our determination today to praise our God. I will praise. Yes, I will.
