“I will declare your name to my people in the assembly I will praise you.You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!” Psalm 22:22-23
Psalm 22 gives a simple 3 step road map for any time in our lives that we face discouragement or trials….
1. Discouragement: In verses 1-10 the psalmist, David expresses complaints of discouragement.
2. Prayer: Beginning in verse 11 all the way through verse 21, we see David in prayer for deliverance.
3. Praise: Beginning in verse 22 we see David praise God in the congregation because the answers to his private prayers of deliverance deserved a public testimony…
Today, we focus on praise.
God wonderfully delivers us in the quiet moments when we are hurting, and we must be prepared to offer public praise for his care.
Give God praises for mercies and redemption in your life today…
Redemption is the reason for praise: All our praises should center around the work of redemption. The suffering of the Redeemer was graciously accepted as a full satisfaction for sin. Though it was offered for sinful men, the Father did not despise it for our sakes. This and this alone should be the focus and reason for our thanksgiving.
Because of His righteousness, and not any of our own, we should declare Christ to be the foundation of all our hopes, and the fountain of all our joys. Redemption by Christ is the Lord’s own doing.
Humility is the manner in which we praise: With redemption as the reason for our praise, all humble, gracious hearts should have a full satisfaction and happiness in him. Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness in Christ do not labor for that which does not satisfies- we remain humble and turn from pride. With hearts of humility, those that turn to God, will be found praising and worshipping before him.
Let every tongue confess that he is Lord. High and low, rich and poor, bond and free, meet in Christ. Seeing we cannot keep alive our own souls, it is our wisdom, by obedient faith, to commit our souls to Christ, who is able to save and keep them alive forever.
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