April 10, 2021

 Topic: Prayer and Praise

The Book of Psalms 

In Hebrew it is called the book of Praise.

Ps 56:4

In God, whose word I praise...in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?

(King David is somewhat boasting in the Lord saying, what can be against me he declares. Or what can a mere mortal do to me when I trust in his word. He is also calling God greater than mortals so we praise a God.  

Ps 57:9

I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. 

Why sing among the people. 

According to "-Otto Jespersen, Language, Its Nature, Development and Origin" men sang out their feelings long before they were able to speak their thoughts. But of course we must not imagine that "singing" means exactly the same thing here as in a modern concert hall. When we say that speech originated in song, what we mean is merely that our comparatively monotonous spoken language and our highly developed vocal music are differentiations of primitive utterances, which had more in them of the latter than of the former. These utterances were, at first, like the singing of birds and the roaring of many animals and the crooning of babies, exclamative, not communicative--that is, they came forth from an inner craving of the individual without any thought of any fellow-creatures. Our remote ancestors had not the slightest notion that such a thing as communicating ideas and feelings to someone else was possible.

When we sing we are communicating our feelings to the person or individual. 

Think about those beautiful love songs on the radio. I love, love. I love beautiful music and I like to sing it while I am alone but here David is referring to singing how you feel about God among the people. Let the people know you love God. You are communicating your feelings to him. 

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Ps 63:4

I will praise you as long as I live, and in  your name I will lift up my hands. 

Why lifted hands?

What does he want God to know!

According to Brooke Metz Contributor Student, Wake Forest University says that lifting your hands doesn’t always imply joy or praise. Biblically, the gesture is actually a sign of surrender. 

Do you agree?

There are lots of examples in the bible that support that. Its liken to the police telling someone to freeze and to stand still. But when it comes to God it is more like be still and know that he is God. 

Lord let us be an instrument of mercy and healing to others just like you are to us.

Have a wonderful day!