praise the lord

After several days of spiritually and physically exhausting days I was eager—no, desperate—for God to minister to my soul.

So I opened my Bible to Psalms and found what the Lord wanted me to find.

“Praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD, O my soul.

I will praise the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.

When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;

on that very day their plans come to nothing.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,

the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them--

the LORD, who remains faithful forever.

He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.

The LORD sets prisoners free,

the LORD gives sight to the blind,

the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,

the LORD loves the righteous.

The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow,

but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the LORD.”1

I read it a second time. And a third time. And yes, one more time.

Each reading I saw the same thing: The faithfulness of God.

The Lord…

• upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry
• sets prisoners free
• gives sight to the blind
• lifts up those who are bowed down
• loves the righteous
• watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow

My soul gobbled up the message, for it knew who had come to my rescue in recent days, who had pulled me through. My soul soaked it up like a sponge mopping up a spill.

God is faithful. He had just proven it in and through me.

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord oh my soul.

1  Psalm 146