May 30, 2023 -- Psalm 30:1-3 -- The Psalm Series: The contemplation of God leads to adoration

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up
    and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
    and you have healed me.
3 O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;
    you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
Psalm 30:1-3 ESV

Notice the preaching King David brings to his own heart and what he teaches his people to say and to sing—I will extol You, O LORD. What does it mean to extol the LORD? It means to make His Name and His reputation and His glory great to your heart and mind. To extol God is to talk Him up and to study His goodness so that you can’t help but praise Him and become more dedicated to Him.

It is interesting an oenophile will study wines, swirling it in the glass to see it reflect colour, checking its clarity and making sure there are sediments and then sniff it to get a sense of its fragrance and to awaken the palette to receive the luxurious complexity of tastes. A connoisseur of art will study a piece endlessly, searching out details, noticing brush-strokes, delighting in the interplay of light and shadow. Those who are not oenophiles or connoisseurs of art will think it a waste of time.

Our lives and our future are bound up with the LORD, Who has drawn us up. He has made us stand tall though we’d been ruined and humbled to the ground and so shamed we could not stand before Him. He made us alive, though we’d been dead in our sins and trespasses, and causes us to stand before Him by the amazing grace given ins Jesus Christ. He is our constant help, in fact, at Jesus’ request, the Father has poured out the Holy Spirit so that the Father’s healing work in our lives is on-going.

Through-out the psalms the writers of the various psalms urge the people of the LORD to study the LORD, as intently as an oenophile studies wines and believers savor His greatness as much as art connoisseurs lovingly look at art so that their hearts will swell with adoration and praise. This is not something that is reluctantly plucked from the unwilling heart. Believers study God. Believers contemplate all He has done and is doing in their lives and from such contemplation songs will swell up, such as will praise Him.

Our Father in heaven hallowed be Your Name. We join with Your people through-out the centuries in thinking about Your mighty acts of creation; the blessing of the seasons, the richness of the variety of flora and fauna which Your have put into various continents and climates and our souls are drawn up to worship. When the Spirit leads Your people to consider Your acts of salvation, how You have rescued Your people from death to life, then praise and adoration wells up within us and overwhelms the mind so that thanks flows past the lips in hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs of exultation to Your great and glorious Name. In our lives, in Your Church, in Your world, LORD our God be glorified now and forevermore. Amen.

https://youtu.be/byRXcyZn7YE Mahalia Jackson “How Great Thou Art”

Copyright © 2023 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.