READING: Psalms 107-109, 1 Corinthians 4
“I will sing praises to You among the nations.”
Psalm 108:3
Yesterday, I preached at a church in Illinois. As we sang God’s praises together in a powerful way, I thought much about the people around the world who were not praising God at the time. In fact, I focused on those billions of people who could not praise Jesus because they have not yet heard about Him. They don’t know who He is, so how can they join the throngs of people lifting His name in worship? Meanwhile, we were praising God freely and loudly.
In psalm 108, the psalmist seeks God’s help on behalf of His people, and his prayer in the latter part of the psalm (Psalm 108:6-13) is a powerful one. The psalm begins, though, with a time of personal praise (echoing Psalm 57), a praise the psalmist wants to speak among the nations as well: “I will praise You, Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations” (Psalm 108:3). God’s love is “higher than the heavens,” and His steadfast faithfulness “reaches to the clouds” (Psalm 108:4); His greatness is so far beyond our thinking and His power so much beyond our capacity that the psalmist could only pray, “God, be exalted above the heavens, and let Your glory be over the whole earth: (Psalm 108:5). Even singing His praises like the psalmist did – “with the whole of my being” (Psalm 108:1) would seem insufficient.
Again, I think of the people around the globe who worship something much less real and certainly less potent than our God. They honor “gods” they make with their own hands. They speak to figurines who cannot hear them. They offer fruit to gods that can’t see it. They live to please gods who can offer them nothing in return for their obedience. Their gods simply cannot save them – and Satan delights when they are convinced otherwise.
My question is then both a personal and a corporate one: who will sing God’s praises among them so they know of the only true God? Who will go to the nations?
ACTION STEPS:
- Like I am, ask God if you should be one who goes to the nations.
- Pray for people who cannot worship our God because they don’t know who He is.
PRAYER: “God, thank You for making Yourself known to me. Help me to know how best to sing Your praises among the nations.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Psalms 110-112, 1 Corinthians 5
