I Will...Because He is...So That...

Psalm 145:1-12
1 I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.
2 Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever.
3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
4 One generation will commend your works to another;
they will tell of your mighty acts.
5 They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
6 They will tell of the power of your awesome works,
and I will proclaim your great deeds.
7 They will celebrate your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.
9 The LORD is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.
10 All you have made will praise you, O LORD;
your saints will extol you.
11 They will tell of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might,
12 so that all men may know of your mighty acts
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Easter’s a comin’! This weekend our churches will be filled with worshipers. Some of them on their annual trek to “their church.” Why do some folks come once or twice a year and stay away the rest of the year? I think there are many reasons (excuses). However, I believe one of the main issues is what I want to address in this entry.

I’ve been meditating on Psalm 145 over the course of the last two weeks. I shared briefly during worship a couple of weekends ago about what I believe God was showing me. I have written in the margin by Psalm 145 these words: “I will…because God IS…so that.” In my study, I found that King David likely wrote this Psalm and it is an acrostic. Using the Hebrew alphabet, he wrote an attribute of God from each letter. Pretty cool, I’m going to attempt that some time in the not to distant future, it’s a great idea to point our heart and head to God.

Verses one through seven are some things I will do to worship, honor, respect and praise God. These are the “I will” verses. They are highly instructive as to what to do. I think it’s important to note that verse 4 points out that we are to pass His glorious works on to the next generation, and they will talk about Him to the next, and the next.

Then in verse eight, it points to God. It starts the “because God is” part of the Psalm. God is! What a statement! Any time you make that statement along with one of His attributes, you make a statement of absolute truth that finds it’s foundations in the absolute of absolutes. It cannot and will not be shaken, compromised, torn down, or moved from eternity. He is! It’s so comforting to serve the God who is there.

Then in verse 12, it seems to turn another corner. The NIV translation renders it, “so that all men may know…” This verse in particular is rendered a number of ways. All the translations of the Bible that I looked at, struggle to say the same sort of thing, each one a little different. So, I decided to look it up as close to the original language as I could, and see what I could find out. The central word in the text seems to be a little word that has become a slang word in our day. I’ve used it, not fully knowing the meaning, and it’s popularity was probably stemmed from the Jerry Seinfeld show. The word is Yadah. Remember, Yada..yada..yada! It’s a great word in the biblical context. It means, “to know or make known.” That is so central to the whole deal! It is central to our very existence; to know and make known. To make God known! That’s a very powerful little word.

The Psalm continues on with more of the “I wills” and “Because God is” verses, but we can stop at 12 to make the point.

The point I’d like to make this Easter weekend is this: Our worship should be as exuberant and alive as ever on this day of days! It’s the celebration of Jesus resurrection from the dead! He’s alive!

My new paraphrased and version of Psalm 145 would read like this:

I will worship You with all my heart!
I will sing as loud as I am able!
I will play with the skill that you gave me.
I will sing the old songs that tell of Your greatness!
I will sing the new songs that bring hope to coming generations!
I will give my best portion.
Because God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,
He was the perfect Lamb,
The perfect sacrifice for my sin,
His blood is the blood of the new covenant!
He fulfilled His perfect covenant through His Son!
He suffered, was crucified, died and was placed in a grave.
On the third day He arose from the dead!
He’ll come back for me someday!
He’ll come to judge all of us on that day.
Every knee will then bow and confess that He is Lord.
We will shout it from the rooftops..
So that all will know that He is God.

So in going to worship this weekend bring your "A" worship! Only your best! If you haven’t been to church in a while, why not this weekend? If you go occasionally, you might be a little out of practice, but go anyway. Bring as many as you possibly can, so that..