Every day I will bless You

Psalm 145 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Lord Extolled for His Goodness.

I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
² Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
³ Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable.
⁴ One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts.
⁵ On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
⁶ Men shall speak of the  power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness.
⁷ They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.
⁹ The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works.
¹⁰ All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, And Your godly ones shall bless You.
¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your power;
¹² To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.

¹⁴ The Lord sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time.
¹⁶ You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.
¹⁹ He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them.
²⁰ The Lord keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.
²¹ My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

I pray that through the business of the holiday season you found time to focus on the things that really matter, not the presents and the parties, but the time spent with family and friends and most of all, time to remember the coming Christ, He who is, who was and who is to come. The psalmist says:    “ I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever. ² Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.”

If in this season you found Christ for the first time then today is one of every day that you should bless Him. If for you Christ was lost amid the hustle and bustle or unforeseen circumstances, then today is one of every day that you should bless Him. The psalmist continues:  “One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts.”    For those of us who have now been blessed to see multiple generations, it is important that we use the wisdom that comes with the experience of age to praise God and His works to the younger generations. With the experience of time we have learned, like the writer of Ecclesiastes: What has been will be again,     what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. (Eccl 1:9)   In Matthew 6:31-34, Jesus says:

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”     Each day is an opportunity to praise and thank God for His works.

The psalmist continues: The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.  The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works.   The goodness, the lovingkindness and mercy of God are the reason for the Christmas holiday we just celebrated. It was because: God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

If you are in a difficult season of your life, look at the promises of verses 14-16.     The Lord sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down. ¹⁵ The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time. ¹⁶ You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing.  To those bowed down with grief and mourning Jesus says: "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4) These are more than words of encouragement, it is a promise. The God of all creation says that those who mourn “SHALL” be comforted. Seek first His kingdom. To those who are bowed down with anxiety and worry, 1 Peter 5:7 says: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” To all who are burdened and bowed down with sickness or infirmity, God says: “I am the Lord, who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26)

The psalmist says:  “ The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. ¹⁹ He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them.”    There is an important revelation in those verses, He is near and will hear the cry of those who call on Him in truth and fear Him. This is not a fear that would have us shaking at God’s presence, but rather a respect and a love, a fear that would keep us from asking God for anything out of an impure motive. We call upon God in truth and say as Jesus taught us: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”

The psalmist says: “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.”   All that we seek, all that we need, the answer to every question and problem we have is complete in God’s everlasting kingdom. On the cross Jesus said “It is finished.” There is nothing more we can do but to like the psalmist say: “My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.  Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.”       Amen.