Tuesday, December 18,
2012, 6:57 a.m. – The Lord Jesus woke me with the song “I Will Lift My Eyes” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your
servant is listening. I read Psalm 34
(NIV 1984):
I will extol the Lord
at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
My soul will boast in
the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
Glorify the Lord with
me;
let us exalt his name together.
I sought the Lord, and
he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him
are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
This poor man called,
and the Lord heard him;
he saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord
encamps around those who fear him,
and he delivers them.
Taste and see that the
Lord is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Fear the Lord, you his
saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing.
The lions may grow
weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good
thing.
Come, my children,
listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Whoever of you loves
life
and desires to see many good days,
keep your tongue from
evil
and your lips from speaking lies.
Turn from evil and do
good;
seek peace and pursue it.
The eyes of the Lord are
on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
the face of the Lord
is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the
earth.
The righteous cry out,
and the Lord hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to
the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
A righteous man may
have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
…The Lord redeems his
servants;
no one will be condemned who takes refuge
in him.
Extol the Lord
To extol means to praise, exalt and worship. Praise usually
involves an audible expression of admiration for someone’s good qualities
and/or achievements. So, we need to audibly praise God, as well as praise him
in our hearts. To exalt someone includes praise and/or worship, but it has to
do more with raising someone to a higher level or to esteem (show high regard
for; value) an individual because of his or her position or rank. So, we need
to esteem God because he is God Almighty. And, to worship someone (or something)
involves respect, devotion, love, adoration, and allegiance: loyalty,
obedience, support, commitment, faithfulness and fidelity. [Ref: Encarta] We
need to do all of those things on a daily basis.
In America’s church today I think we sometimes get a skewed
or a limited view of what it truly means to “Praise & Worship” God
Almighty. We use these terms so often in connection with the music portion of a
church service that it is easy to come away with the idea that praise and
worship of God is done in a church building setting in the “Praise &
Worship” part of the church service, and that it always involves singing and/or
playing of instruments and/or the raising of hands in the air, and/or, in some
cases, dancing.
Certainly music plays a huge role in our praise of God, yet
just because we participate in a “Worship Service,” or we sing “Praise &
Worship” music, it does not automatically mean we are truly praising or
worshipping God. Yet, we could be, yet it should not begin and end there.
The psalmist said he would extol the Lord at all times. That means 24/7. His
praise of God, he said, would always be on his lips. That is a tall order! I
don’t think he meant that 24/7 he went around singing or playing musical
instruments or saying literal words of praise to God. I believe what he
intended here is that his worship and praise of God extended to every aspect of
his life 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He would praise and lift up the
name of God and he would worship God, and show proper respect, honor, obedience
and loyalty to God Almighty in everything he did and in everything that he
said. That didn’t mean that he did this perfectly, but this was the intent and
purpose of his heart, and it was the goal and purpose by which he chose to live
his life. And, this is what God expects of us, too (see Luke 9:23-25; Eph.
4:17-24; and Rom. 12:1-2).
Seek Him
The psalmist said that he sought the Lord, and the Lord
answered him. To seek someone means that we pursue, search for, follow, chase
after, and/or to shadow (observe to learn from) him or her. How many of us who
claim to have Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives truly chase after
him with all our hearts day in and day out? Can you think of anyone or anything
in your life that you have pursued with this kind of earnestness and persistence
and tenaciousness until you gained what you sought after?
Maybe it was a man or a woman you wanted to date and/or to
marry. Maybe it was a car, or a guitar, or an I-Pad, or a new computer, or a
new video game that you desired. Or, perhaps it was a career, a college degree,
some type of recognition or achievement, or a win in an athletic competition of
some kind, or getting chosen to sing in a special choir, or winning first place
in a talent contest you desired, and so you worked hard at achieving your goal
until you accomplished what you wanted. This is the kind of pursuit of God that
each and every one of us should have for our Lord every day of our lives. We
should hunger and thirst after him and after his righteousness, and we should
long for the times we can spend alone with him in spiritual intimacy, and to drink
in his words, and then to obey them.
Call on Him
The “poor” man called, and the Lord heard him. This word “poor”
is used in scripture in two different ways that I know of. One is to speak of
those who are literally poor in the possessions of this world. That kind of
poor is relative to the culture and the economic situation of the individual’s surroundings,
because “poor” in America might be “rich” in other nations. Yet, I don’t
believe this psalm is speaking merely of one who is poor in worldly
possessions.
The other way in which “poor” is used here in the Psalms and
in the New Testament, too, including in the Sermon on the Mount, has to do with
those who are humble in spirit and who recognize that they are not
self-sufficient, but that they are very much in need of God in their lives, for
him to supply them with all they need for godly living. The wisdom, strength,
mental resources, abilities, supplies, heart, motivation and willpower needed for
living godly lives in this world all come from God – Father, Son (Jesus) and
Holy Spirit.
Fear Him
There are also two ways in which the word “fear” is used in
scripture. One is the obvious meaning of fear, which means to be afraid, to be
timid, and to lack faith and trust in God to take care of our situations and/or
to supply what we need. Yet, the other way in which the word “fear” is used in
scripture, in relation to God, has to do with our respect, honor, reverence and
awe of God, which includes our worship of him and our obedience, loyalty and
devotion to him. This fear of God has been so lost in our culture here in
America, even in the church where God is often reduced to a picture of a doting
grandfather in the sky just waiting to grant our every request while he
requires nothing of us. Oh, how wrong!
If we truly fear God with this kind of reverence, respect,
awe and obedience to his commands we will also experience his blessings upon
our lives. Now, God does not promise followers of Christ that we will be rich
in the eyes of this world, but he does promise that we will be rich in faith
and in his spiritual provisions for us. He does not promise us we will not
suffer or have sorrow in our hearts or that we won’t be misunderstood, hated
and/or rejected for who we are and/or because of our faith in Christ and our
testimony for him. But, he does promise us his abiding presence with us, his
comfort, joy, peace, patience, endurance and love. He promises us that he will
encamp around us in a sense of offering us all the spiritual protection and
armor we need with which to fight off Satan’s attacks against our minds and
hearts (see Ephesians 6:10-20).
Come and Listen to
Him
The psalmist said he would teach his children (and/or his
subjects) the fear of the Lord. We now have our Lord God dwelling within those
of us who have turned away from our lifestyles of sin, and who have chosen, by
God’s grace through faith, to turn to God/Jesus to walk by faith in his
presence. He dwells within us in the person of the Holy Spirit. And, the Holy
Spirit is our teacher and counselor and guide, and the one who gives us the
power and strength we need to keep going each day, even on days when we think
or we feel as though we just don’t have it within us to keep going. And he is
the one who teaches us the fear of the Lord, if we will take time to listen and
then to obey what he teaches us.
The psalmist described the way in which we show fear
(reverence and awe) for God. We show proper respect and reverence for God when
we: 1) Take refuge in Him, 2) Seek Him with our whole hearts; 3) Keep our
tongues from evil and our lips from deceitful speaking (speaking lies), 4) Turn
from evil and do good, 5) Seek godly peace and pursue it, 6) Extol the Lord by
our lives at all times, and 7) Are poor in spirit and humble before God.
Continue in Him
The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. True
righteousness is obtained by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ as our
Lord and Savior of our lives. It is only by Christ’s blood sacrifice on a cross
for our sins that we are made righteous in God’s sight. We cannot attain this
kind of righteousness by our own merit (see Rom. 1:17; 3:10). Yet, just as our
salvation is progressive, which some people call the process of sanctification,
i.e. we are saved, we are being saved and we will be saved (salvation complete)
when Jesus Christ returns for his own, we are continually being made righteous by
God’s grace, through faith (see Ro. 6; Ro. 8; Eph. 4-5; Phil. 1; 1 Tim. 6; 2
Tim. 2; 3; Heb. 5, et al).
So, I suspect that, in understanding this psalm in light of
the New Covenant relationship between God and man, that this is not merely
speaking of those who are positionally righteous in God’s sight, but this is
speaking of those who are progressively righteous, i.e. who are daily walking
in fellowship with God, showing proper respect, devotion, obedience and
faithfulness to God, who are daily dying to self and sin, who are pursuing God
and his righteousness on a day-to-day basis, and who are not living in willful
disobedience to God and to his commands. Old and New Testament alike – God’s
face is against those who do evil, but he listens to those who love and obey
him (see John 15 and 1 John).
So, if we want to have the spiritual blessings of God in our
lives, and we want to know his peace, safety and protection against spiritual
evil forces, and we want him to listen to our cries and our prayers and for him
to answer them, and we want to experience his deliverance in our lives from
fear of man or circumstances or the future, then we must first of all learn
what it means to fear God, and to put that into practice in our daily lives,
because that is where we will learn what pleases God and what God requires of
us in thought, word and action. We demonstrate our love for God by obeying his
commands and by loving others. And we love others by obeying God’s commands
(see 1 John).
All in All
So, seek God with all your heart like you would chase after
something or someone you really desire. Extol him and worship him daily, and
not just with your lips, but with your whole being 24/7. Call upon him in all
humility and in recognition of your need of him, and revere him, obey him,
follow him and show him proper loyalty, allegiance and devotion. Then come to
him daily in prayer and in the study of his word and learn from him, listen to
what he says and then do what he says to do. And, continue in him with all
perseverance, endurance and persistence in your daily walk of faith and service
to him and to others.
I Will Lift My Eyes
/ An Original Work / December 12, 2012
Based off Psalms 121-125
I will lift my eyes
To my Lord Most High.
My help comes from Him,
Who saved me from sin.
He will not let your foot slip, and
He who watches will not sleep.
Our Lord watches over you, and
Your life He will keep.
I will lift my eyes
To my Lord Most High.
My help comes from Him,
Who saved me from sin.
I give thanks to Him.
I will lift my eyes
To my God in heav’n.
I look to the Lord.
My sins, He’s forgiv’n.
Because of His great love for us,
He made us alive with Christ.
Through the kindness of our Savior,
He gave us new life.
I will lift my eyes
To my God in heav’n.
I look to the Lord.
My sins, He’s forgiv’n.
My home now in heav’n.
Praise be to the Lord,
Who is on our side.
Our help found in Him.
He gives peace within.
Those who trust will ne’er be shaken.
God will supply all we need.
Our Lord has done great things for us.
He’s our friend, indeed!
Praise be to the Lord,
Who is on our side.
Our help found in Him.
He gives peace within.
I can count on Him.
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