March 16, 2020
Worship in
WORD:
|
A psalm. A song. For the
dedication of the temple. Of David.
4 Sing to the Lord, you
saints of his;
praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts
only a moment,
but his favor lasts a
lifetime;
weeping may remain for a
night,
but rejoicing comes in
the morning.
NIV
|
A psalm of David. A song
for the dedication of the Temple.
4 Sing to
the Lord, all you godly ones!
Praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime!
Weeping may last through
the night,
but joy comes with the
morning.
New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004
by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.
All rights reserved_
|
|
A
Psalm and Song at the dedication of the house of David.
5 For
his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure
for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
KJV
|
Joy Comes with the
Morning
A Psalm of David. A song
at the dedication of the temple.
4
Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but
for a moment, and his favor is for a
lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
ESV
|
I.
Personal/Public Purpose - Title
II. Personal Praise: vs. 1- 3
III. Public Exhortation: vs. 4 - 5
IV. Personal Plea: vs. 6 - 10
V. Personal/Public Praise: vs. 11 – 12
1. Humbling – position, awe-inspire
2. Clarifying – focus, illuminate, purify
3. Unifying – community, encourage, embolden
4. Glorifying – adore, magnify
5. Disseminating – witness, worship
Let me summarize what has been said so far. This will be good not
only for you but also for me as well, as I try to get a grasp around all I have
written so far. As we enter into God’s presence and confess and praise God for
who He is and what He has done in our life, we are humbled as we become aware
of our utter sinfulness and unworthiness to be there – leading to confession
and repentance and forgiveness. In joy, we share this with others and call them
to join in our confession and praise and thanksgiving – leading us to the third effect of confessing
who God is: confession and praise are unifying.
I am not sure I need to elaborate much on this effect, or the last
two that follow it. These effects are self-evident and logically flow out from
our confession and exalting. When God’s people come together in community to
praise and worship Him, they find encouragement in the face of the daily trials
they face. They know they are not alone in their toil, temptations, and
troubles. This is part of what the author of Hebrews sought to teach.
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.Heb 10:23-25 NIV
Unity can only take place in community. In community, we find
encouragement, which leads to boldness in our witness. When unity breaks down,
discouragement ensues, and fear prevails, leading to faithlessness and failure.
When the Lord’s people are of one mind and confess and exalt His
greatness. When they declare His goodness and give Him thanks. He is glorified,
adored, and magnified1. This is the upward effect, which then leads
to the outward effect – to disseminate our confession to others who are not a
part of the community of Christ-followers.
John Piper says in the same article I linked below:
That’s why we exist, why we were saved, as Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”The whole duty of the Christian can be summed up in this: feel, think, and act in a way that will make God look as great as he really is. Be a telescope for the world of the infinite starry wealth of the glory of God.
Only the one who knows their God can properly and passionately
praise Him. When we forget or doubt Who God is, as revealed in His word, our
“praise and thanksgiving” will be perfunctory2 and phlegmatic3.
Our relationship with God will be stymied4, and our fellowship with
God’s people will be stultified5. Let us then seek to know our God
and join together in exalting Him!
1 Magnified – Like a telescope, not a
microscope – I got this analogy from John Piper – see link below
2 Perfunctory – shallow, superficial, apathetic
3 Phlegmatic – lethargic, unemotional, frigid
4 Stymied – hindered, obstructed
5 Stultified – crippled, weakened
6 Penchant – preference, liking, affinity
.
(note: Grammarly flagged me for using these big words. However, I used them anyway because they satisfy my penchant6 for using alliteration 😆)
Worship in Witness:
This is a day of “small” blessings. The kind we may overlook if we
did not see God as our sovereign and benevolent Father. I was in the shower
when I realized that I forgot to get a towel from the clean wash pile I hadn’t
put away yet. Now, I would have to trounce out into my bedroom, soaking wet from
my shower to retrieve one. Just then, one of my grandsons came over and called
out to me. I first told him that I was taking a shower and couldn't hear him at
the moment. He said, “ok,” and started to leave when it dawned on me to ask him
to get the towel for me. After he delivered it, he asked me to help him with
turning on the Bluetooth speaker I had lent him yesterday. As I contemplated
the circumstances, I burst out in praise at this providential timing in the
present situation I found myself in. Upon further reflection, I thought of how
I was a little annoyed the day before when he interrupted my sleep to ask to
borrow the speaker. Now I saw the purpose in the plan. The phrase, “a Joseph
moment” came to mind. While my grandson may have been rude for bothering me
while I slept, God used it to provide me a towel.
The lessons did not stop there. Later on, when I was preparing the
steel-cut oatmeal that I eat for breakfast at work every morning, I
“accidentally” spilled the oats all over the counter and stove. Much of it fell
right by the burner. As I turned off the burner and proceeded to clean up the
mess, instead of grumbling, I praised the Lord. The phrase “a Jonah moment”
came to mind. The Lord had provided a towel but allowed me to make a mess with
my cereal. Perhaps “a Job moment” may be more appropriate here, but it really
wasn’t that serious😂. When I gathered what I spilled, I
still had a sufficient amount of oatmeal to prepare my breakfast 🙌☝. Later, when my
dog annoyed me enough to get me up from my journaling to go and let him out, I
remembered the cereal was still cooking on the stove. A little longer and it
would have burned. I also remember that my work clothes were still in the
washer and needed to be dried.
I’m not saying every day will be like this, but be on the lookout
for opportunities to praise God even in the “small things.” And be prepared to
praise and thank Him when things seem to “fall apart.” What appears to be
falling to pieces may actually be providing the parts that will fit into a
glorious blessing and the fulfillment of God’s plan for your life. Use these “little things” to testify to others
of the goodness of our God.
(Note: I found this image
online after I wrote what I said above)
Worship
in Song: Great are You
Lord, by Casting Crowns (I encourage you to watch the video found in the
link below and sing along with the video. The video includes the lyrics. The
scenery of God’s creation is breathtaking.)
You give life, You are love
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope, You restore
Every heart that is broken
Great are You, Lord
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
To You only
You give life, You are love
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope, You restore
Every heart that is broken
Great are You, Lord
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
To You only
[x2]
All the earth will shout
Your praise
Our hearts will cry
These bones will sing
Great are You, Lord
[x3]
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It's Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
To You only
[x2]
Writer(s): Jason Ingram, David
Leonard, Leslie Jordan
Video: https://youtu.be/ZZqV6i98SkA
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