I Will Bless the Lord by Elder Lemichael D. Wilson
Psalm 34:1-6; I. Thessalonians 5:18
My beloved brothers and sisters, I have come to this sacred desk, dedicated to the proclamation of and about our Risen Savior, Jesus the Christ, to speak a word given to me by the Holy Spirit. With a sense of great urgency, in anticipation of inspiration, I stand before you, after being dispatched from the presence of the King holding a Word in my mouth about men and women – saved, sanctified and Holy ghost-filled men and women – who boldly proclaim they have made it up in the mind to be like the shepherd boy David and bless the Lord.
Perhaps as a point of departure, it would be good to exegetically consider for a few minutes of God-talk the lesson found in the pericope’. Lest you think me less than prepared for this preaching moment; this brief venue from which we wrestle with the ontological, wrestle with God-in-our-faces, may I suggest that we place our theological footing on our noted “Salvation History Psalm;” David’s hymn #34 and stanzas 1-6?
David, my friends, has found himself juxtaposed in a place between burden and blessing; between mountain high and valley low; among the “can God do it;” “will God do it;” and “I know God will do it” of life.
He, this Judean fellow from the rolling hills of Barrington, Arlington Heights, or even Northbrook and valley, Country-Club Hills, Calumet City, Dolton-like suburbs, hoods and ghettos of Judah finds himself in a cave owned by a foreign fellow by the name of Adullam.
He has for more than three years sought solace in pristine courts and palatial, executive suites of Philistinian King, Adraiah of Gath, after his own brother, King Saul, has placed a bounty of his head; placed a wanted “dead or alive” decree on his person; place a destructive, mind-boggling “US bank bailout” kind of threat upon his life. Upon Ashiah learning of Saul’s bounty on David’s head, he turns to the brothers, makes mind to collect, and secretly plans David’s murder-by-hire experience. But God allows the secret to get out. David learns of the plans, escapes under the curtains of night, and arrives at his pre-planned hideout – a cave.
Hiding in a cave: is a would be king; is a would be Judean “Vice Roy;” is a man on the verge of destiny; is a man wrestling with screaming demons of defeat; is a man, all man, but fighting against issues that causes boys to run and fall into their daddy’s arms; is a man who has grown accustomed to hiding when God has planned for him to be a central figure on front state; is a fellow, a fellow from the hood who is forced to deal with secret depressions, private obsessions, voiceless acts of victimization, discreet downfall, damnable dreams, and pent-up powerlessness – while standing on a public stage of machismo.
And to make matters worse, in order to escape, David has had to pretend insanity, had to blow bubbles and roll around with spittle in his beard – only to find solace in a dark, dug-out pit of life. And just when the cave was a proverbial men’s club den, David discovers his brothers and father’s entire household moved in on him, bringing along with them four hundred men who were in distress, in debt and bitter of soul and spirit; and not one of them had a penny to share in the rent or to place in the household spending account.
David, in a cave, finds himself struggling with himself; struggling with threats from his enemies; struggling with family and friends riding him like monkeys on his back; and struggling with his future. He struggles until he considers God. When he considers God, when he thinks about God, his perspective changes, and praise and worship is provoked. He, this David, when life pushed in on him, when trouble came like an uninvited guest at a dinner party; when despair and depression hung around like twin buzzards awaiting pending breakfast, David broke out in a praise; pushed until he got to the place of Worship of God.
Says he, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Now, before we suggest the implications of our lifted text, would I offend you by at least suggesting: “brothers and sisters, there is a difference between praise of God and worship of God?”
Praise engages your emotions to a point you are happy about what God is doing in your life. Worship engages your heart and on its ground a transformed life is seen. Praise, brothers and sisters, is grounds for transformed attitudes; praise is about saying “thank you” to God; saying “Ta-Ta” to Him . . .
For being our Great Help . . . Ta-Ta, praise the Lord!
For being our Only Hope . . . Ta-Ta, praise the Lord!
For being our Judge and Jury . . . Ta-Ta, praise the Lord!
For being our Healer . . . Ta-ta, praise the Lord!
For being our Provider . . . Ta-ta, praise the Lord!
Praise is the place, a place in which we are so inspirited by God that we surrender the full range of our emotional lives. Praise found 237 times in the New Revised Standard Bible, is to declare God to be “Suma Eternatata” (Sum of Eternity).
Praise, at its core, changes our attitudes and brings more and more successes in our lives. Praise transfers negatives into positives; gloominess into gladness, and hopelessness into hopeful. Praise is coming to the place where we lose our cool; lay our suaveness on the side; kick our machismo to the curb and say to our neighbors: “excuse me, if you don’t want to praise Him; I’ve got to praise Him because you don’t know like I know what the Lord has done for me!”
Praise’s twin cousin, worship – is not about us; not about how we feel; not about how loud or how quiet the music department is; not about who dances before the Lord or who sits and cries; worship is about God and God alone! You do know that God is God without our permission? God deserves worship! God created angels to praise Him; He created men and women to worship Him – in Spirit and truth.
Worship forces us to pay attention to our lives. Worship (Allelujah) is an extremely personal action performed when the community is gathered; worship forces us to take notice of what God has done! Worship forces us to take notice of the good things God is doing in our lives right now. Romans 8:23, “For we know all things work together for good . . . ;” worship forces us to take notice of what God is about to do; worship is to be in awe of God, so much awe of God that we become strangely aware of His presence among us whenever we meet together.
Worship is a highly, individual thing! It is celebrating God for just being God! If God doesn’t do another thing, if He doesn’t raise another finger, we worship still ought to worship Him; simply because worship is due Him. O bless His holy name!
Now let me lift four things that this Psalmist and Psalm lists for which worship is due our Great God. The four things are: (1) my relations with my Resource; (2) my responsibilities to my Rescuer; (3) my refusal to stay out of the race; and (4) my reliance of my Redeemer.
My relationship with my Resource.
Says David in Psalm 34:1, “I will (not someone else) bless the Lord at all times! When? At all times. His praises (God’s praises) shall continually be in my mouth. What he is really saying is I will worship God and boast about my God at all times, because Father God (Abba, Daddy) can do anything.
You know it to be true: when children are small they actually believe their dads can do anything. For them dad will defeat, conquer and destroy anything; however, as children mature they see their dad’s weaknesses.
But beloved in the faith, when we grow, when we mature in faith; we praise and worship our Jesus, our Great God because in the relationship, God is our daddy – our daddy, who is our Resource – who is able to do anything, able to keep us from falling, able to put food on the table, able to breathe life into a dead situation. Isaiah says of Him in 40:112-14, “He has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth with a measure, and weighed the mountains with scales and the hills in a balance. Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows Him his counsel? Who taught Him the path of justice, and taught Him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding?
Our Daddy, God, can do anything. Because of my relationship with God, says David in verse 2, “My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad.” Brothers and sisters, I don’t know about you, but I’ve made it up in my mind to “boast” in the Lord and while I boast, God’s promise is: “The broken, the broken-hearted – shall hear of it and be made glad!” My Resource is my Daddy – what’s why I worship Him!
My relationship with my Resources, that’s why I praise and worship Him. But then, my responsibilities to my Rescuer. Verses 3-4, David says, “Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together! I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. My Christian friends, we have responsibilities to our Great Rescuer. He has saved us from ourselves. We have responsibilities, a duty to worship Him. Isaiah 53:4-5, Surely He hath borne our grieves, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.
He has destroyed the plans of the enemy. Says the writer, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” Isaiah 40:29-31, “He gives power to the faint, and to him who hath no might He increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, walk and not faint. He has all power, all authority over satan and sin.
My relationship with my Resource; my Responsibilities to my Rescuer; my refusal to stay out of the race. Verses 5-7, (Contemporary English Bible), Keep your eyes on the Lord! You will shine like the sun and never blush with shame. I was a nobody, but I prayed, and the Lord saved me from all of my troubles. If you honor the Lord, His angel will protect you. Says David, I praise and worship Him, even with my leftovers staring at me because God has put me in the race and I refuse to stay out of it.
Brothers and sisters, the final point is our reliance on our Redeemer. Tell someone, “I rely on my Redeemer.” Verse 8, O taste and see that the Lord is good! That’s reliance on his Redeemer. Contemporary English Bible reads, “Discover for yourselves that the Lord is kind. Come to Him for protection, and you will be glad.” That’s reliance on Him as his Redeemer.
As I soon take my seat, may I suggest that Apostle Paul, New Testament, balding, bow-legged, near sighted Paul joined in with David in praise and worship by writing in I. Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, concerning you.”
Both of these fellows: David and Paul had a reliance on their Redeemer. This reliance was two-fold. First it was a real, concrete belief that the Redeemer is in control of life and living. Simply, they stood on God’s promise to lift our Lord. Hebrews 12:5, “…the Lord has promised to never leave us or desert us.” Jesus may not deliver us from the valley, but He will never leave us in it.
A man, while walking the shores of the Dead Sea, lost his balance and fell into a rather deep point of the sea. Never having learned to swim, he was panic-stricken. He flayed his arms and legs, attempting to keep from drowning. But exhaustion set in; tired, he remembered to cry out to God. He relaxed after crying out to God, relaxed and the water began to lift him up. The Dead Sea is so full of salt and minerals until if a person lies still, he can easily float to the surface. Resigning to the buoyancy of the water, a person cannot drown. This is a lesson for the children of God: when we relinquish our fears and cease from carnal efforts, the Lord will lift us up.
Secondly, it was a premonition; a belief of up-the-road, around the corner, just over the next hill, our Great Loving Jesus will make everything alright. God has promised to lighten our load. Hebrews 4:16, “So whenever we are in need, we should come boldly before the throne of grace. There we will be treated with undeserved kindness, and we will find help.” God is always there when we need Him! From where the Lord sits, my need is already met. He saw tomorrow while today was still tomorrow, and when today is yesterday, Jesus will know all my tomorrows and will have made provisions for anything that I will face. Philippians 4:19, “For my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory.”
I don’t know about you, but I have reliance on my Redeemer. May I tell you about Him? May I speak a word about our great Lord? Why is He so great, so worthy of our praise and worship?
He is first, the last, the beginning and the end
He is the Keeper of Creation, Great Creator of the Universe
He is the Convener of the Divine Council that holds His meetings on a daily basis in the cosmos
He is the Manager of all time! Before time was, He was! After time is dismissed, He will be
He is always, always was, and always will be
The world can’t understand Him; US armies can’t defeat Him; US schools and universities can’t explain Him; US leaders can’t ignore Him…no wonder we praise and worship Him
Herod couldn’t kill Him…the Pharisees couldn’t confuse Him, Nero couldn’t crush Him; Hitler couldn’t silence Him…no wonder we praise and worship Him
He’s the Power of the powerful; the Ancient of Days, the Ruler of rulers; the Leader of leaders…no wonder we praise and worship Him
He is holy, He is mighty, He is true, His Word is eternal, His ways are right, His will is unchanging…no wonder we praise and worship Him
Executed on a bloody tree, lain in a rich man’s tomb, resurrected n Sunday morning! He is my Redeemer, my Savior, my Lord, my Guide … no wonder I praise and worship Him. O, come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
