Monday, July 8, 2024

           Many people have routines as they begin or start each day.  Psalm 34 teaches us a good way to begin the day.  The opening four verses of this chapter give us six action steps we can take and two promises from God that we can trust.  We read, “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.  I will glory in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.  Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.  I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:1-4).  In your Bible, you could underline those five action steps—extol, praise, glory, glorify, exalt and sought.  These steps teach us how we are to approach God.  He is not “the man upstairs,” a co-worker, a neighbor or a celebrity.  He is the King of kings and worthy of the greatest embrace and worship that we can possibly bring.  We are told to extol the Lord—not occasionally or on a whim but at all times.  To extol means we acknowledge His greatness and place above all creation. The Lord alone is God and no one else.  We are to praise the Lord.  Praise is always to be on our lips.  Our initial impulse toward the Lord is to praise and worship Him.  Before we ever petition the Lord for anything, we should take time to praise Him for what He has done and for who He is. 
            We give glory to the Lord.  We never rob Him of His glory.  Jesus said in Luke 19:40 that if we keep quiet, the stones will cry out in praise and give glory to God.  But we can also bring glory to God by how we live.  We decide to live as His people.  We choose to live obediently.  We keep His commands and Word.  We tell of His great deeds as we speak about Him to others.  God alone is worthy of the glory of His people.  We adore Him and magnify Him with all the breath we possess.  And then we exalt His name.  The Lord is the name above all names.  Paul reminds us about the majesty of the Lord’s name in Philippians.  We read, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).  Speak the name of the Lord with worship and reverence.  We should quickly pause ourselves if we are ever tempted to take the Lord’s name in vain.  We should redirect our steps when we hear others doing so.  The name of the Lord is holy, worthy and majestic and is to be exalted in all creation.  We are never to speak or handle the Lord’s name casually or lightly.  The Lord guards His name so protectively that He told us in the Ten Commandments never to take His name in vain.  Followers of Christ bear the name of the Lord and should never live in a way that brings shame or ruin to His name.
            The last action step is “sought.”  David, the writer of Psalm 34, noted that he “sought” the Lord.  To seek the Lord means our days are filled with moments where we are looking for and listening for Him.  We are using our senses to see where He is leading us and where He is at work.  To seek the Lord is not a passive endeavor.  It requires energy, passion and commitment.  It requires intentionality and purposefulness.  We seek Him in worship with other believers.  But we also seek Him individually in the ordinary days and times where we live most of our lives.  The prophet Isaiah says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7). 
            We end with the two promises that we find from God in this psalm.  Psalm 34:4 says that the Lord “answered” and “delivered.”  Specifically, we read, “I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.”  God answers and delivers.  His answers may not always be what we expect or want.  But they will always be right and good.  We trust Him to supply what is right.  We trust Him to write a beautiful story for our lives and to bring that story to completion.  We trust Him to deliver us—from sin, death, separation, dread, fear and any other enemy that assails us.  If we engage in these six action steps, we may be surprised by just how often and profoundly we see God answering and delivering.  Have a great Monday!  Remember you can worship any time and share our worship at https://firstbaptistkannapolis.com/sermonarchive.