September 1

If you are trying to find a reason to celebrate God today because your circumstances have eclipsed your praise, look no further than Psalm 135. Let's look at them together...

Verses 1 & 2, "...praise Him you who serve the Lord, you who serve in the House of the Lord..." The New Testament pairing in today's reading is 1 Corinthians 12, what a perfect match! Psalm 135 tells us to praise the Lord because He has given each of us gifts, talents, passions, and abilities that enable us to serve Him. Celebrate the gift you have been given and celebrate that you have a church that you love where you can put those gifts to work! What a privilege we have to be useful in His Kingdom, what a cause for celebration!

Verses 3 & 4 have three specific reasons we should celebrate the Lord. First, He is good! Come on! He only and always has our best interest at heart. Even when we don't understand, even when we fell as though He is not listening or He has forgotten us, we must remind our feelings that they must yield to truth...that He is good! We are told here as well that we are celebrate because of His name. Jesus tells us that His name is Father. Of all the ways that He could choose to relate to us, He chose one that is paternal, love. All of us have experienced love in some measure, no matter how small, even if it was just the compassion of a stranger. Now imagine someone whose love is perfect, without limit, always enduring, and eternal! That is His love for you, what a celebration! Finally, these two verses tell us that He has chosen us, that we are His treasure. This is important because there are times that we love people in this life because we are committed to them, because we are loyal to them, but at times, we are certainly are not liking them. God's feelings of affection for us never wane! Even at our worst, we are His treasure...what a cause for celebration!

Verses 5-11 are recounting His greatness. These are important texts in our search for a cause for celebration. Think of all the people you love who have found themselves in situations where your heart longed to help but your resources, your ability, your influence just wasn't enough. Think of times when you over committed yourself to help others, you over promised. God cannot relate! His resources, His ability, His influence, His power knows no bounds...what a cause for celebration!

So for the rest of the chapter, you try. Read the remaining verses and make a list of reasons given for why celebration should be rising in our hearts and give that celebration a voice, praise Him!!

Pastor Fred