Reflections on the Bible, and Other Writings, from a Christian Perspective.
As Christians, we have many reasons to be joyous. Some of these are due to physical blessings that God graciously provides to all people. However, we who are of the family of God should feel far more moments of joy than most. One collection of Scripture that often teaches on this topic is the book of Psalms. It speaks of praise, gladness, and singing in a wide variety of contexts. One of the best passages that refers to all of these is Psalm 100.
A number of psalms discuss being faced with enemies and relying on God. Some of these topics may be familiar to us, but others are much less so. For myself, I cannot relate to being violently oppressed by enemies. Even though this is the case, there is still much that we can learn from Psalm 43.
Is praising God becoming boring to you? Does it feel like it is just a mechanical action? I hope not! Please let me encourage you to keep those things from happening. Praise and worship should not be done just out of habit. If you need a good text to remind you of the importance of praise check out Psalm 134.
Near the end of August, I shared some thoughts on The Two Ways of Psalm 1. Now that we are coming to the close of 2019, I think tonight is a good time to return to this Book of Wisdom. The text of Psalm 117 focuses on two major ideas. These are that Yahweh is worthy of praise, and He is kind and faithful. Let's take a look at each of these!
James L. Hutton 