Getting Serious About It

A couple of things struck me in Psalm 138 this morning. (I read the NLT.) It begins by offering the Lord thanks with all of one's heart, something I've heard a lot and strive to do. Immediately after that phrase, however, the psalmist talks about singing God's praise before the gods.

It seems to me that singing God's praise before the gods is much more serious than singing it before other people. First, singing praise before other people only requires us to say and do certain things in our praise. We often assess one another's commitment to worship by how engaged people appear to be. This judgment is folly. Even if a person claims to worship the Lord, people are fickle and will do a lot to please one another even though they don't care much about the Lord (see 1 Kings 22:19-25).

Second, singing praise before the gods essentially means singing praise before the very enemy of our souls. "The gods" refers to the myriad of false gods worshipped in the Bible (and today). None of them is God; they're all imitations, mostly made by human hands. It is the enemy of our souls that draws people into worship of the false gods. The enemy's aim is to take glory from God, if that were even possible. It's a serious commitment, then, to proclaim God's praise before the gods.

For most of us this doesn't mean destroying altars to Baal (or more contemporary false gods). For most of us it means giving glory to God in the face of those things that control us - addictions, habitual sins, and all of the encumbrances that hold us down. Whether the god has a specific name and form, the enemy of our souls knows whether we are glorifying the Lord or giving lip service. When we glorify the Lord in front of our enemy, we will be tried. Just remember that the Lord will work out His plans for your life and will not abandon those whose hearts are truly His (Psalm 138:8). Go out and declare God's praise before all people and the gods today!