Skip to main content

All times? Always?


            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. (Psalm 34:1-3)

            When you're happy, hopeful or excited, it's easy to praise God. When you're angry, sad or anxious, it's harder to praise Him because of your negative feelings, but those negative feelings provide energy you can draw on if you can only turn your focus. It's when I am neither up, nor down, that I find praise most difficult. There's no emotional component to motivate the expression. This is one of the reasons I sometimes say that I don't like peace - if peace is the lack of conflict it can feel like being "dead" - there's nothing there. Better a little drama than the emptiness of that kind of peace. Fortunately, that's a reductionist version of peace, not the whole and real peace.
           This is sort of the lack of feeling that I have this morning, just sort of comfortably here. Then I find my passage of the day is about extolling the Lord at all times. I don't like the artificial "pep rally" sort of excitement. My dislike of "rah rah, sis boom bah" was one of the reasons I didn't like working in retail. So how does a person extol the Lord at all times, how can His praise always be on our lips without being mechanical?
           Yesterday's passage comes to mind. Science shows that music can change our brain waves. I've felt the effect. The first time I think I noticed it was when I was ice skating in college. When a "fight song" was played, not only did the rough and tumble guys skate more aggressively, but so I, and I could stay on my feet, but not much more. (This is why fast food places play faster music, and fine dining places play slower music - they understand the effect it has on our psychies.)
          That's one of the things I have always liked about Christmas time. There's lots of music, and the best of it draws on positive emotions. Songs like "Mary, Did You Know?" (playing right now) not only provides the emotional energy, but even suggests some content.  Music is a way we can extol the Lord at all times, even without focusing our complete attention on the act. It is  a way that his praise can always be on our lips. And the best of the music out there also has theological content, which also gives us a basis for our praise.
           

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more