Words of Encouragement

I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. - Psalm 116:1-2

O PRAISE the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD. - Psalm 117

Praise and prayer. These two scriptures have been on my heart for the last week or so. I wanted to share it with you this week.

The first scripture tells us about the writer of this psalm. The psalmist writes that he loves the Lord and he says it is because he has experienced God's care of him. What is that care? When he sought God, God answered. I like the part where it says he inclined his ear towards him. This made me think about a small child calling out to his parent and the parent hearing that small voice even in the midst of noisiness and leaning down to where the child is to look him in the face and hear what he has to say. WOW!

Can you see that visually? God comes to where we are and no amount of "stuff" around us can keep him from hearing us and he knows are voices even in the midst of many voices. He comes close to us and he hears his child. The psalmist says then because of this, he will continually call upon the name of God.

So what is then required of us when we call upon God? The next psalm gives us our direction. We are to praise him because his truth is everlasting. This is a reminder that when we pray we are not to walk away from our prayers as if God did not hear us or that our prayers simply were words that were lost in the air. God inclines his ear so he hears all that you request of him.

Let us realize that prayer and praise goes together. We praise our Lord because of his truth that is everlasting. We have a hope and we should praise him even before we see the results of our prayers. Why should we praise him? Because while we may not have the answer yet, we have the assurance that God has already heard us and that his word is true. He promises to never leave us or forsake us.

Prayer: Lord we praise you name this day. We thank you for answering our prayers and our concerns. We are thankful and rejoice because you are a faithful God and your truth endures forever. Help us your people to rejoice always in all situations as we wait upon you. Amen.