"I will bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad."
Psalm 34:1-2
Part 1
“I will bless the LORD.”
David’s resolve shows clearly. “I will” do this. “I will bless the LORD.” It does not matter what anyone else does, he is blessing God. To our worldly way of thinking, this seems backward. We know that God blesses us, but do we bless Him?
We know that when God blesses us, we are better for it. With His blessing comes help, strength, and answered prayer. His benefits can be seen in a variety of ways. But how is it with God, when we bless Him, is He made better for it? How is it possible that the One who needs nothing and no one could be bettered by our blessing? Truth be told, all of our “blessings” put together cannot make God better, He is the Almighty! But we are still advised to bless Him. Blessing God is the right thing for believers to do, the Psalms have many examples. What does “blessing God” mean to us?
For us to bless God, means to exalt Him, thank Him, praise Him, and glorify Him. When we bless Him, we acknowledge His greatness and who He is. We are always grateful that He is blessed and the One who blesses us. What a joy it is to serve Him!
“Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits” (Psalm 103:1-2).
“I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name forever and ever. Every day will I bless thee, and I will praise thy name forever and ever. My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever” (Psalm 145:1-2, 21).
“At all times.”
When should we be blessing our God? Yes, always.
“At all times,” in every situation, under every circumstance, before, in and after trials, in bright days of glee, and dark nights of fear”[1] (Spurgeon).
Anytime is the right time to bless God.
“The idea is, that he [David] would do it publicly and privately; in prosperity and in adversity; in safety and in danger; in joy and in sorrow. It would be a great principle of his life, expressive of the deep feeling of his soul, that God was always to be regarded as an object of adoration and praise” (Barnes).
Friend, how are you doing at “blessing God?” How often I find myself going through a tough time and forgetting to bless God during my testing. It’s not that I am not praising God, but often it is sporadic and not “at all times.” If you are like me, you will agree that this needs work in our lives. Come back tomorrow, and let’s learn more about when we ought to bless the Lord.
Quote: “When I was young, I said to God, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the universe.’ But God answered, ‘That knowledge is reserved for me alone.’ So I said, ‘God, tell me the mystery of the peanut.’ Then God said, ‘Well, George, that’s more nearly your size.’ And he told me.”[2] (George Washington Carver, the scientist who developed hundreds of useful products from the peanut.)
[1] C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] Adapted from Rackham Holt, George Washington Carver. Downloaded: Wednesday, June 17, 2020.
From: https://bible.org/illustration/more-my-size.