Continual Praise – Who?

This is the first of six blog posts looking at the first 3 verses of Psalm 34, and attempting to understand the idea of “continual praise”.

Series: Who? | What?| Whom? | When?| How?| Why?

I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul shall make its boast in the Lord;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.

Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
And let us exalt His name together.

Psalm xxxiv.1-3

Continual praise.

How does that work? What does it even mean to “bless the Lord”? Shouldn’t we be asking for his blessing? How do we praise him “continually”? Does that mean we have to walk around singing all day? This is the first of six blog posts where I’ll be looking at the first 3 verses of this Psalm and attempting to answer some of these questions.

1. Continual Praise – Who?

We’d better start here. Who is doing this blessing and praising? We are! We have the incredible privilege of knowing, being in relationship with, and worshiping the sovereign creator of the universe. Notice the use of personal pronouns throughout these verses.

I – my – my – me

We’ll get to the “us” in another post. For now, I just want you to think about this for a moment. Let it sink in. How often do we pause to reflect on the fact that God created the solar system, the galaxy, the universe, everything that exists. And not just the physical either, he created the angles in heaven!

“For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” (Col 1.16-17)

Colossians i.16,17

But he didn’t just create everything and leave it be. His active will is what holds all things together. And you and I get to praise him. We get to worship him. We get to know him! He has revealed himself to us in the Bible.

As I was reading this text and praying over it, I was struck by a thought: “Who am I that this God would speak to me? Who am I that he would care enough to write and preserve the scriptures so that I could know him? Who am I that he would take my place on the cross? I should have been nailed to that tree! But Jesus went in my place.” That broke me. Think about the idea that this God knows your name. That he wants us to speak to him through prayer. It’s amazing. This Psalm gives us a glimpse of the amazing nature of God, that with all of creation, both visible and invisible, laid out before him, he would know us as individuals and allow us to be in relationship with him.

Our ultimate joy is found in knowing, and being known by, God.