“The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock! May God, the Rock of my salvation, be exalted! He is the God who pays back those who harm me; He brings down the nations under me and delivers me from my enemies. You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies; You save me from violent opponents. For this, O Lord, I will praise You among the nations; I will sing praises to Your Name. You give great victories to Your king; You show unfailing love to Your anointed, to David and all his descendants forever” (II Samuel 22:47-51, NLT).
“The Lord lives! Praise to my Rock! May God, the Rock of my salvation, be exalted!” David wraps up his hymn of praise with a dancing-in-the-aisles celebration. When’s the last time you had yourself an absolute Holy Spirit-led hallelujah-thon? It might just be time for one. Whether you’re on the mountaintop or in the valley, He loves to hear you praise Him. And there’s no more heartfelt praise than that we give in the valley.
Did you realize that God actually indwells the praises of His people? Psalm 22:3 declares it: “But you are holy, O you that inhabit the praises of Israel” (AKJV). Want more Jesus? Praise Him more.
“He is the God who pays back those who harm me; He brings down the nations under me and delivers me from my enemies.” Note who’s doing the payback: God is. “We have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous” (I John 2:1b, NLT). We don’t need to seek revenge; we just need to sit back and watch our Heavenly Father work.
“You hold me safe beyond the reach of my enemies; You save me from violent opponents.” Regardless of the trials we face, none of us will ever know this side of heaven the number of crises that never came near us because of the intervention of our Mighty Savior.
Even when the problem was of our own making, so many times our Loving Father bails us out of the hot water we put ourselves in. And He doesn’t desert us, as Psalm 73 attests: “I was so foolish and ignorant… Yet I still belong to you; You hold my right hand” (verses 22a, 23).
“For this, O Lord, I will praise You among the nations; I will sing praises to Your Name. You give great victories to Your king.” God gives “great victories” to all who belong to Him. Therefore, all who belong to Him should be praising Him “among the nations.” Who do we tell about the love of Jesus? We should be singing “praises to (His) Name,” not just at church, but everywhere. Do we? In the car? In the shower? In the kitchen? In the workshop? On the tennis court? Golf course? When you’re the ninth person in line at the WalMart checkout?
“You show unfailing love to Your anointed, to David and all his descendants forever.” If you’ve been born again through faith in Jesus Christ, you have the anointing and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. You are of the lineage of David through Christ our Lord. And that, my friend, entitles you to the “unfailing love” of our Savior. Tell Him “Thank You” today, won’t you?
“Though He brings grief, He also shows compassion because of the greatness of His unfailing love” (Lamentations 3:32).
“With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed. In your might, you guide them to your sacred home” (Exodus 15:13).
“Love never fails” (I Corinthians 13:8a, ISV).
Copyright © 2013
Judy Woodward Bates
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