PRAISE AND PRAYER
Opening Prayer
Lord, we praise and glorify You.
Read PSALM 108
A song. A psalm of David.
1 My heart, O God, is steadfast;
I will sing and make music with all my soul.
2 Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
3 I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
4 For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.
6 Save us and help us with your right hand,
that those you love may be delivered.
7 God has spoken from his sanctuary:
“In triumph I will parcel out Shechem
and measure off the Valley of Sukkoth.
8 Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet,
Judah is my scepter.
9 Moab is my washbasin,
on Edom I toss my sandal;
over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
10 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
11 Is it not you, God, you who have rejected us
and no longer go out with our armies?
12 Give us aid against the enemy,
for human help is worthless.
13 With God we will gain the victory,
and he will trample down our enemies.
Footnotes
- Psalm 108:1 In Hebrew texts 108:1-13 is numbered 108:2-14.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to praise God joyfully today.
Think Further
This psalm consists of two parts, each of which has its duplicate in another psalm. Verses 1–5 derive from Psalm 57:7–11 and verses 6–13 from Psalm 60:5–12. The psalm shows us two ways to worship God: in praise and prayer.
Praise. The psalmist first mentions song: ‘I will sing and make music with all my soul’ so that ‘I will awaken the dawn’ (1,2). As you go to church today, sing with all your heart the praises of our wonderful and awesome God. Next, he moves to words: among the nations and among the peoples. We should share our testimony of God’s goodness with our fellow Christians and outside the church. When I had cancer in 2017, God kept impressing on me daily to go and witness. I shared my confidence in God for healing, even on Facebook. This led to many people all over India and abroad praying for me – and they still do. God cured me with radiation treatment. I praised Him: He did the rest.
Prayer. Prayer should always follow praise. As Paul says, ‘Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus’ (1 Thess 5:16–18, 2 Rom 8:28).This is not an easy teaching to practice, but we need to do it with the power of the Holy Spirit. My favorite verse is ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose’. When things go wrong, I try to see what God is accomplishing. He is in control. As the psalmist says, ‘With God we shall gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies’ (13). It is not by our efforts, but by His overruling power.
Apply
Are you facing problems? Ask God to help you to praise Him even in the midst of them.
Closing prayer
Lord, thank You for giving us victory over those who wish us harm.
Book and Author Intros
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