Mention the lovingkindness of the Lord- to Him!
The Bible is filled to overflowing with Scriptures that praise and thank the Lord for who He is and what He has done. Gratitude is the point of origin for all worship and without it, worship simply doesn’t exist. Sometimes praise and worship feels so complex, like there has to be a certain type of lighting, or stage setting or style of music or that the atmosphere has to feel a certain way, but none of that has to do with worship. Actually, a lot of that can even harm a spirit of worship because it can distract the heart and mind away from connecting solely with God’s Holy Spirit.
As a worshipper, your role as a recipient of the lovingkindness of the Lord is to “mention” it, as Isaiah said. Tell others!
Worshipping the Lord “…according to all the Lord has bestowed on us…” as Isaiah wrote is the whole point of worship. Not because of what He has done, but because of who He is, which has led the Lord to pour out Himself on His people. God is only good. Even when He has had to express anger, it was righteous anger at sin, or when He had to punish people for their sin, He was still good because He is holy and He will only act in a way that conveys that perpetual state of holiness. That’s why He sent Jesus. “I will mention the steadfast love (aka “lovingkindness”) of the Lord,” Isaiah wrote. “And the praises of the Lord.”
“Thy lovingkindness is better than life,” David wrote in Psalm 63:3. As a worshipper, your role as a recipient of the lovingkindness of the Lord is to “mention” it, as Isaiah said. Sing it out! Yes, you are a verbal witness and you can testify with your words and stories to people in your family or at work or at church, but Isaiah said, “and the praises of the Lord”. That word “praises” Isaiah used is the Hebrew word tehillah, which the spontaneous, spirit-led song of the Lord that you write and sing to the Lord from the gratitude you feel right then and there. Nope, you don’t have to be able to sing well, and it doesn’t even have to rhyme! It’s all beautiful to God!
Thought for today
Can you write a new song for the Lord today? What would the lyrics be? What lovingkindness has He shown you? Your family? All praise is beautiful to Him, but the Lord’s favorite type of praise, repeatedly stated throughout the Word, is tehillah. That’s where HE wants to live. Why? Because it’s not something that was written by someone else. It is written by you, His beautiful songwriter. Every person that the Lord loves is given a testimony, a song to sing to Him. Whether or not you actually sing it is up to you. But He is always ready to listen, smile, delight in your praise and sit with you in His glorious presence.
(Hey, the Hebrew word tehillah is one of the Bible’s 7 words for “praise“! If you’d like to learn more about tehillah, why the Lord loves it so much, it’s purpose and Scriptural uses for the worshipper, grab a copy of The Way of the Worshipper and go deep!)
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