Praise!

Praise!

O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. Isaiah 25:1 KJV

Context:

A look at the chapter before this one seems to point to the inevitable return of God to the earth, and his eternal reign and rule over all that he has made. At that time, it will not matter what you or I think, or what we have accepted as the truth; only the truth of God as the owner and master of the universe will stand, and only those who have accepted and lived by that truth will rejoice to see the day of the Lord. 

On that day, even the moon will be confounded, and the sun ashamed. The Lord will reign and all eyes shall see it, and testify to the power of God. As I take an audit of my life and its present pursuits and priorities, can I say, of a truth, that God is my own Lord, Master and Saviour? Have I surrendered control to him, or am I still struggling with giving up that which I can lose to gain that which I cannot lose? As always, the choice is mine to make. 

Message and Response:

In that light, how do I respond? Having read what I did, how do I proceed? The writer here already had his mind made up: he was going to exalt the name of the Lord, praising him and recounting all the wonderful things about him and his deeds. 

It is first and foremost an individual call; a personal decision borne out of my knowledge of who God is. If I know who I have been called to praise, I will do it without anyone pushing me and I will do it in line with his will. It is not a celebration of my achievements, but those of God's. Do I know this God as my God, or is all I know that which other people say he is? 

Recall the experience of Jesus with his disciples, and that question he asked them: "Who do people say I am" and "who do you say I am"? Peter's response as we know is the foundation of the church. If I will have the same experience, I have to gain the same knowledge. I cannot arrive at the same destination where Peter got to, without the same foundational knowledge he had, which is: I am dealing with the God of the whole universe. 

And of course, this knowledge should push me to exalt and praise him. As I consider all his mighty works, I must come to the point where my default response is praise. Like it has been said, it is not first a congregational call, but a personal one. As I get it right on a personal level, then my corporate worship will make sense. How do I join others to worship God when I do not even know this God for myself? Is that not hypocrisy and self-deceit? 

This is a God whose guiding principles have been the same through all generations. Dispensations may have changed but his principles of faithfulness and truth have not. What he called sin in the days of Adam is still sin today, and how he dealt in mercy with men like Abraham and David, as well as women like Ruth and Rahab is still the same way he deals with us in our own day. That is why he can be trusted. If God is all about truth and faithfulness, it means that all I get from him will line up with his nature. 

I can trust his words, because he is not like man who speaks and acts only in his own selfish interests. A man can promise you his all, and when it is time to settle, he may not have the means to, or he may not even be alive to do so. You have a God here who is the Way, Truth and Life. If it took him 430 years to deliver Israel from Egypt, it is not so much of a suprise, as that was exactly what he said to Abraham that he would do. Time is of no use or limit to him, as he holds and owns time. He is called the first and the last, the beginning and the end, and of course, all that matters in between. So, what is it going to be for me? What will it be for you? Praise or pressure? His time of favour is here.