“ I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. ” – Psa. 34:1
Yesterday I commented on the phrase “I will meditate” and emphasized that the words “I will” speak of a commitment on the part of the writer. Today it has to do with praise — something that should be the most natural thing in the world for a Christian, but is sadly neglected.
J. R. Miller explains it like this: “It is not hard to bless the Lord at some times. There are days when all is bright. There is no sickness in our house. No recent sorrow has left our heart sad. It is easy then to bless the Lord.
But there are other times when things are different. Business is not prosperous. Or, health is broken. We begin to say this verse, but we cannot get through it. “I will bless the Lord at _____.”
We cannot bless the Lord for the broken health, for the empty chair. Yet there the words stand. We cannot make them read: “I will bless the Lord at some times: His praise shall be in my mouth on certain days – days when the sun shines.”
It is not our business to write Bible verses; it is our business rather to bring our lives up to the standard of the inspired words. So we must learn to say the verse just as it is written.
We must learn to bless the Lord on the dark days as well as the bright days. We must learn to praise God in pain as well as in pleasure.”
Our problem is that when problems arise we tend to pout rather than praise. We act as though God is dead, deaf, mighty sick, or unconcerned – none of which is true. Such an attitude in adversity trashes our testimony and gives others the wrong impression about God. So rather than murmuring about our misery we ought to magnify the Lord. He is worthy of our worship at all times and His praise should be continually on our lips (Heb. 13:15). Regardless of how bad things are we should say “I will bless the LORD at all times“. – HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346
