Encouragements to Praise God

Psalms 47 & 48

These Psalms are such an encouragement to praise God!

I am to clap my hands to God with cries of joy! How awesome He is - the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth. He has subdued nations under our feet - our enemies, those who hate us because we are His children and they hate Him. And HE has chosen our inheritance for us - Heaven lies ahead for those who have put their trust in Him! Hallelujah!

He has gone up amidst praises - How can I not sing praises to Him, sing praises, sing praises to my King, sing praises? He is indeed the King of the whole earth, He is sitting on His holy throne and presiding over all the rulers of the world. Wow! That means that every ruler, every monarch, every president is under His control - whether or not they recognise it! Nothing they do, even evil things, can be done without his permission, even though they will have to face Him one day - as indeed I will, and so will everyone else - and give account for all their actions, all their deeds, whether good or bad.

But when the King is reigning in my heart, I will reflect His beauty and not only this, I can be sure of His protection and strength to face and endure whatever happens to me and no matter how great the forces of evil that are arrayed against me. May be I will be called to suffer for His name (as indeed may of our brothers and sisters are called to suffer, and not only in far off places but in our own towns and cities), but those sufferings will only endure for 'a little while' in the light of eternity that lies ahead for my future is 'secure for ever.'

So what an encouragement to 'meditate on [His] unfailing love' and to remember that 'like [His] name, [His] praise reaches to the ends of the earth'.

I puzzled over verses 12,13 'Walk about Zion, go round her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels'. I came to the conclusion that this means that as I think back over my life and see the ways that the Lord has helped, guided, led and protected me, then I am to 'tell of them to the next generation' - my children and, in time and if it pleases the Lord to give them to me, my grandbabies so that they too will be given cause to praise the Lord.

How wonderful is the thought that 'God is our God FOR EVER AND EVER' - and this links back to His 'UNFAILING love' and the encouragement of this promise that 'he will be our guide even to the end'. Truly, never will he leave me, never will he forsake me - what hope, what comfort, what assurance, what love!!

Hallelujah!