Worship: Worn by Tenth Avenue North
I'm tired
I'm worn
My heart is heavy
From the work it takes to keep on breathing
I've made mistakes
I've let my hope fail
My soul feels crushed
By the weight of this world
And I know that you can give me rest
So I cry out with all that I have left
Let me see redemption win
Let me know the struggle ends
That you can mend a heart that's frail and torn
I want to know a song can rise
From the ashes of a broken life
And all that's dead inside can be reborn
Cause I'm worn
I know I need
To lift my eyes up
But I'm too weak
Life just won't let up
And I know that You can give me rest
So I cry out with all that I have left
Let me see redemption win
Let me know the struggle ends
That you can mend a heart that's frail and torn
I want to know a song can rise
From the ashes of a broken life
And all that's dead inside can be reborn
Cause I'm worn
And my prayers are wearing thin
I'm worn even before the day begins
I'm worn I've lost my will to fight
I'm worn so heaven come and flood my eyes
Let me see redemption win
Let me know the struggle ends
That you can mend a heart that's frail and torn
I want to know a song can rise
From the ashes of a broken life
And all that's dead inside can be reborn
Yes all that's dead inside will be reborn
Though I'm worn
Yeah I'm worn
Songwriters: Jason Ingram / Jeff Owen / Mike Donehey
Worn lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics: https://www.google.com/search?q=Lyrics+to+Worn&oq=l&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j0j69i60j69i57j69i60.2321j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Video: https://youtu.be/UUEy8nZvpdM
Witness:
I certainly can relate to the title of this song. Sleep deprivation is my middle name. All my plans and good intentions for getting a good “night’s” sleep (I work the grave yard shift) seem to meet with the relentless realities of life. Take for instance this morning. I was tired, but I chose to attend a LifeGroup I had not attended for a while, though I wanted to get home and get to bed as soon as possible. When I came home my daughter next door needed my help on something. I finally laid down after 10 am. I set the alarm for 8 pm. I did this because I had come to the conclusion that I needed to let my body dictate when I needed to wake up for the day and not an alarm. That would give me at least 9 -10 hours of sleep potentially if I did wake up to the alarm. Noon comes and so does an urgent knocking at my bedroom door. It’s my daughter saying what we worked on earlier did not work. I ended staying up for another hour and a half trying to help her. Finally, I lay back down and go to sleep. Enter the nightmare. I wake up and spend the next few hours listening to sermons and talking to my other daughter on the phone. After laying there for a little while longer, I finally decided to get up. I showered, shaved, and made dinner. That brings me to the present. Bleary eyed and groggy I am writing this portion before I lay down for a brief nap before work.
But I do not want to diminish the message of this song I have begun with. This song is not about being worn out by the lack of sleep. Rather, it is the cry of every honest believer who lives and breathes here on this planet. My life is just a parable that witnesses to this cry.
WORD:
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As I come to the conclusion of Psalm 26 a question arises over one remarkable phrase at the very end of the psalm: “I will bless the LORD” We may fail to see and feel the extraordinary privilege found in this phrase. This is especially if we follow the translation found in the NIV and the NLT, which use the word “praise” instead of “bless.”
Both translations are possible, but I believe one is better than the other. There are several words in Hebrew which can be translated praise. One is the word “halal,” which means:
PRAISE"to praise, celebrate, glory, sing (praise), boast."
(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
However, this is not the word used here. The word used here in this passage is “barak,” which means:
BLESS"to kneel, bless, be blessed, curse.(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
As you can see Vines does not even use the word praise in its definition of the word “barak.”
So what is so remarkable about this word “bless” used here? If you looked up this word in a concordance, you would see that this word is usually used concerning a greater one bestowing a blessing on a lesser one or at least an equal blessing an equal. Here, however, we see the lesser one blessing the greater one. How can that possibly be? How are we able to bless the Blesser? That is - in what way can we as mere finite, imperfect mortals conceivably bless the infinite, perfect, and immortal One?
Perhaps that’s why some translations use the word “praise” here (i.e., CEV, HCSB, NET, NIV, NLT, TEV). It certainly alleviates any tension resulting from translating it as “bless.” However, I believe when we use the word “praise” it diminishes the meaning and message found in this little phase.
If what I am saying is true, then how do I answer the question “How are we able to bless the Blesser?” To answer that, let me say that praise is certainly a part of it, as well as thanksgiving. However, they are not the end but the means to the end. Through them, God receives and experiences a blessing. Another way of saying this is: We glorify God when we return our praise and thanksgiving to Him for all His blessings upon us, and He finds great delight in them as well.
Furthermore, if we receive the blessings of God and do not return our grateful praise back to Him, then we are the poorer for it. God will be glorified even if we fail to give Him the praise and thanksgiving He deserves. For He is glorified whether He exercises His divine pleasure or His divine displeasure. But we deprive ourselves because we miss out on one of the blessings that come from glorifying God - His joy. The joy we experience in blessing Him.
As I am writing this, a verse came to mind and an application that I don’t think we ever consider. Our Lord said:
It is more blessed to give than to receive.Acts 20:35 NIV
I believe the highest fulfillment of this passage is found in our giving praise and thanksgiving for all the blessings we receive from God. When we do, it becomes “the gift that keeps on giving.” For out of our joy in God’s blessings come praise and thanksgiving and out of that God is glorified and we are fully happy and satisfied.
John Piper puts it this way:
“God Is Most Glorified in Us When We Are Most Satisfied in Him”
God is eternally the blessed one, or as the word blessing implies, He is eternally the happy God (an idea not original with me – listen to the message linked to the quote below). Thus, when we bless God, we become partakers in the purposes of God to be happy which results from our happiness in Him. Piper puts it this way:
All the works of God culminate in the praises of his redeemed people. The climax of his happiness is the delight he takes in the echoes of his excellence in the praises of the saints. This praise is the consummation of our own joy in God. http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/an-unshakably-happy-god
Our joy is not complete until we return praise! Therefore, I contend that the end of this Psalm carries a wallop we miss when we fail to meditate on what it means to “bless the LORD.”
They Declare His Glory
All creation sings Your praise
The starry night
The sun’s glorious rays
The soaring eagle in the sky
The weeping willow
The wind’s gentle sigh
The roaring of the restless seas
The babbling brook
The mid-winter freeze
The rugged cross long past
The martyr’s death
The kingdom come at last
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