21 Days of God's GoodnessSample

The Power of Praise

Let’s mine another gem from the Psalm that we read yesterday. As we saw in the first four verses of Psalm 13, David is pouring out his heart and being painfully honest about the hardships he had been experiencing. Evidently, things had been pretty tough. David is to the point where he’s even wondering if God had forgotten him. He’s wrestling with his thoughts and his heart is filled with sorrow. And to add insult to injury, his enemies are gloating over him and celebrating the possibility of his demise.

Then, in verse 5, the entire tone of the Psalm changes as David declares “I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.” David is making a faith declaration that, no matter how things may appear or even how he feels, he is trusting in the goodness of God. But then notice what he does next. He continues in verse 6, “I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.”

David is making a choice to rejoice.

We all love those times in life when rejoicing comes naturally – celebrating a win, conquering that mountain, experiencing a great blessing. We can and should celebrate all the good things that come our way, but it shouldn’t stop there. Sometimes we celebrate by faith. When rejoicing doesn’t come naturally, it needs to come supernaturally. Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians, “Rejoice in the Lord always!” 

I encourage you to pause right now. Think of something you can celebrate, and make a choice to rejoice.