"Praise Him! Praise Him!"

"Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer!

Sing, O earth, His wonderful love proclaim!

Hail Him! Hail Him! Highest archangels in glory, 

Strength and honor give to His holy name!

Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children;

In His arms He carries them all day long.  

Praise Him!  Praise Him!  Tell of His excellent greatness! 

Praise Him!  Praise Him!  Ever in joyful song!!! 

The first stanza to Hymn 106 in our Hymnal, "Praise Him!  Praise Him!" and a paraphrase of Psalm 146:2.  The collection of Psalms in our canon ends very appropriately with a string of 7 Hymns of Praise.  What a great example of our worship!!!  If you were to read through the Psalms, you would find many more like this one, but you would also find a great number of Psalms of Lament, where the Psalmist is in deep despair in some cases.  For instance, just a few Psalms earlier in the collection (Ps. 137) than the one paraphrased above, the Psalmist is lamenting the Babylonian captivity in which the children of Israel have been stripped from their homes and robbed of all freedom.  The Psalmist states very forcefully at the end:

"...happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us--he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks."

Strong words!  But, if you read further in the book, just a few Psalms later, we find this string of Psalms of Praise that end it.  How appropriate to say, "even though some things in my life just aren't exactly going the way I planned it....I can still praise Your Name for all the blessings I have."

Throughout these 40 days, what is God doing in your life?  We would love to hear about it.  We will be singing this great hymn, "Praise Him! Praise Him!" this Sunday!  As you continue to pray for our church and staff, seek the Lord.  Ask Him to reveal to you what He is doing if He hasn't already.  Trust me....He is working.  The tragedy is, that we are often blinded to it, and don't realize that He's done anything at all 'till much later.  Then, take one of our response sheets from the pew in front of you on Sunday and let us know what God is doing in  your life.  We would love to hear from you!  Or, if you prefer, you can share it in the "Comment" section at the bottom of the page. 

Praise Him!  Praise Him!  Tell of His excellent greatness! 

Praise Him!  Praise Him!  Ever in joyful song!!!