Praise the Lord!

“Surely the righteous will praise your name…” Psalm 140:13. Why is it we have such a hard time praising God? I mean really…privately…publicly…on the mountaintop…in the valley…every breath that comes out of our mouth ought to be praise for all that we have and do not have. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not being critical of you…I’m being critical of me (actually all of us). There are times when I fail to praise God for something…and it simply tells me that I am not righteous, even though I long to be righteous…I long to praise God with every breath. So why don’t I (we)? Know that I think we ought to resist the tendency to cry out like Paul, “O wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:21-25)…I don’t want to make excuses, I do enough of that. I want to move my life toward righteousness. So, what’s going on? Is it that I am too worldly? Is it that I am too easily distracted by sin? Do I long to claim the praise for myself? The answer to all of these questions is probably a resounding yes, but during this season of Advent my hope is to more fully realize the amazing love of God for me and return that love in praise. Praise for the blessings and the trials. Praise for the excess and the scarcity. Praise for the promise and the fulfillment found in the birth of a Savior so long ago. Won’t you join me? It’s as easy as saying “thank you Jesus!”