Scripture For Today: Psalm 65:1-13
“Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.”
Psalms 65:1
We are all grateful for the minute men who responded with a minutes notice to fight the battles that secured our liberty on this continent. We are thankful today for the Rapid Deployment Forces that sit, even now, in readiness to respond to any threat to our nation. But in case you think that they just show up and good things happen, let me assure you that they spend their lives preparing each day to be ready to respond in an instant with prepared action against any threat to our nation. Preparation for the defense of our nation can not be more important than preparation to praise our God.
Our praise should not just be a part of the noise of our lives but it should be bracketed by silence before Him that is broken only by the sacrifice of praise to Him.
Our God is worthy to be praised and we as His people are to be ready to praise Him and fulfill our obligations of worship to Him. David declares His readiness to praise, and intention to perform the vows made unto God in Zion, the place of the house of The Lord. Readiness to praise God as expressed here is an attitude of “expectation in silence”, waiting silently before Him for the time to begin to praise Him in the house of The Lord. Silence preceding our worship magnifies the zeal of the praise in the eyes of men and the ears of God. Our praise should not just be a part of the noise of our lives but it should be bracketed by silence before Him that is broken only by the sacrifice of praise to Him. Learn to sit quietly and prepare to offer praise to our worthy God. Prepare for the giving of praise by silent anticipation as you get ready for church. Get a good night’s sleep on Saturday night. Don’t arrive at church in a flurry of activity, rush in as the service is already started and try to push all of that aside as you enter in to the service of praise and worship. Plan your morning to get up early and spend time in the Word and in prayer, eat and prepare to go so you can leave for church without rushing and turmoil. Leave the issues of the day and the irritations of life to be discussed later. Plan to arrive at church early and spend a few minutes sitting in silent and prayerful preparation to praise God. Spend the Lord’s day focused on Him and praising Him, set it apart to Him from beginning to end. Nothing worth doing happens without preparation, and anything worth doing is worth preparing for. Let it be true of us that praise is waiting for our God as we gather together as His Church. Let us determine to prepare our lives to praise God and to wait in excited, silent expectation for the opportunity to open our mouths and offer our prepared praise to our worthy God. “Praise waiteth for thee, O God,…”
Let me remind you that our position is to be one of being prepared to offer praise that truly magnifies The Lord. Haphazard praise is never glorifying to God. We need to prepare ourselves physically, mentally, and spiritually to praise our God in His house. Do not let the entertainers and athletes of our day be more prepared for their temporal activity than we are to offer true praise to our worthy God! “1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord; praise him, O ye servants of the Lord. 2 Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, 3 Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good: sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.” Psalms 135:1-3.