Devotions 28-07-06

Ps 150:1&2

"Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness."

I will spend the next three days in Ps 150. It gives us a good outline in our praise of God. I will elaborate on these looking at two verses at a time for the next three days. I think it is fitting that the last verses will be covered on Sunday. Nothing I had planned but God had it planned.

There are two place to praise God and two reasons given for praising Him. One place to praise the Lord is in His sanctuary. Where is that? I think God's sanctuary is where you designate it as a place to spend time alone with God.
I Cor 3:16 says that we are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in us. The church sanctuary may be my sanctuary to spend time alone with God or it could be my foxhole where I am fighting for the freedom to worship God in my country. Of course, praising God at church is vital but that is only once or twice a week. We need to be praising God every day we live. The second place to praise God is in His creation. How wonderful to spend time with God on the shore of a lake or ocean. Another favorite is in the forest by a beautiful stream or a beautiful meadow. But be sure your focus is on God and not His creation.

What are our two reasons to praise God? First is because of all He has done for me. That would include the mighty deeds of God He has done in our world. Second is because of His greatness. This is not only what He has done but His character in doing it; His Love, Grace, Mercy, and the list goes on. There is no God great like the God of the Bible. All other gods are false gods and the making of man through the influence of the evil one.

Let me close with a line from the song "Great is Your Faithfulness".

Great is Your faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with You; You change not, Your compassi0ns they fail not; as You have been You forever will be. Great is Your faithfulness! Great is Your faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Your hand has provided--Great is Your faithfulness, Lord to me!