“I WILL BLESS THE LORD AT ALL TIMES; HIS PRAISE SHALL CONTINUALLY BE IN MY MOUTH. 2 MY SOUL SHALL MAKE ITS BOAST IN THE LORD; THE HUMBLE SHALL HEAR IT AND REJOICE. 3 OH, MAGNIFY THE LORD WITH ME, AND LET US EXALT HIS NAME TOGETHER.”
Have you ever made a New Year’s resolution? Well, I don’t, I have to admit. I figure if I don’t have the willpower to change my ways and do what’s right the rest of the year, why set myself up for failure by declaring on January first that I will do those things? Right?
But that’s really the point, isn’t it? We all know inside what we ought to change, and we either make those changes, or go on telling ourselves we’re really an all right kind of guy, and we don’t grow or change at all. Then we wonder why the same problems keep coming on us.
But here’s a resolution that anyone who calls himself a believer should make, and not wait for New Year’s to do it. We should start controlling our tongue.
If you read the third chapter of James in the New Testament, you’ll see a pretty accurate picture of how destructive we can be with our words. We call ourselves Christians, but we go around saying things that we wouldn’t dare say if we could see Jesus standing next to us...yet, He is in us (If we’re believers) and we still say them.
But here in this Psalm is a man who has determined to train his tongue to do the most noble, most constructive and spiritually healthy thing possible. He is going to bless the Lord; praise the Lord; boast of the Lord; magnify the Lord.
The Proverbs tell us that “As a man thinks within himself, so is he”. Jesus said “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks”.
So if we’re constantly cursing or making cruel or off-colored jokes, or whining, or lying, or boasting of our own accomplishments, or gossiping, what does that say about what our heart is full of?
But if we’re continually blessing and praising and magnifying our Lord, what does that say about what’s in our hearts?
I don’t think any of us need to be told the results of our cursing and whining and self boasting. But look at Psalm 34:2 for the results of blessing the Lord!
“The humble shall hear it and rejoice”.
I wonder what a different kind of society we’d have, if everyone who called himself “Christian” would continually bless and praise and magnify the Lord Jesus Christ.
Come, let us exalt His name together. I promise, the more you do it, the more natural it will flow from you; because your heart will be full of His praises.
And the humble will hear it and rejoice.
I’ve heard someone say that they can listen to a man talk for sixty minutes, and know what is most important to him. Because the thing that occupies his mind the most is going to come out of his mouth. Maybe we should listen to ourselves more often...
