A Mouthful of Praise
“My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long.”
Psalm 71:8
It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, it’s ecstatic. The other night, after the lights went out, I tried to get to sleep but couldn’t. My prayer time that evening had been especially warm and intimate with God, and I found I could turn off neither my head nor my heart. I suddenly realized, with my eyes closed and my head pressed to the pillow, that I was murmuring one praise after the next: “O Lord, you are high and lifted up, majestic and exalted, grand and glorious…pure and holy…I praise you for your greatness and goodness…” and so on. My mouth was literally filled with his praises, just as today’s psalm suggests.
Praise is not something we should be forced to do. Rather it should be the supernatural, effervescent response of the born-again creature preparing itself for heaven. Professor E. L. Maskell puts it this way: “We do not praise God because it does us good, though no doubt it does. Nor do we praise him because it does him good, for in fact it does not. Praise is thus strictly ecstatic in the sense that it takes us wholly out of ourselves; it is purely and solely directed upon God. It takes our attention entirely off ourself and concentrates it entirely on him.”
The crowning glory of praise is to lose ourselves and yet find ourselves in God. This is pure praise. Total preoccupation with the Trinity. This is like stepping onto the backside of Elijah’s chariot of fire and being swept up into ecstasy.
Has your mouth ever been filled to overflowing with praise? Saturate yourself this week with God’s Word. Recount to him often the wonders of his creation. Muse and brood over his death for you on the cross. Before long, out of you will flow that river of living water, gushing out in a torrent and springing up to him in a fountain of praise.
Quicken me with a spirit of praise, dear Lord. May my mouth be filled with praises for you today.
God’s Power in Weakness
Looking back on 55 years in a wheelchair, Joni reflects on the Lord’s faithfulness amid her adversity. She shares how trusting God through hardship has given her strength to not only persevere but live with hope and joy!
