I Will Bless The Lord at All Times

David writes in Psalm 34 "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. . ." In order for David to have written such a verse, he must have been having a whale of a day. He must have had life by the tail and everything must have been going his way. He must have just killed Goliath, been married to the king's daughter, and heard all the ladies in town singing about his military prowess as being even greater than that of King Saul. He must have been having a great day. Because surely, if he had been having a day like many of us have had at one time or another, there is no way possible he could have written, "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. . ." RIGHT? Actually - WRONG!

David, what are you doing? I'm pretending as if I've gone mad. What? Why would you do such a thing? I mean you're frothing at the mouth and beating your head against a wall and talking to yourself. You are the next king of Israel - and you're appearing before King Achish, the monarch at Gath. Why would you do such a thing? (Time for Evangelist Creativity - or story-telling if you like) Well, David must have said - Let me tell you a story. You see, I was sent to deliver some cheese and some bread to my brothers who were serving in the kings army. When I got there - I discovered that the army was afraid and the king was terrified and nobody was standing up for the name of our great God. So I did - I killed a giant of a man named Goliath. I cut his head off and I killed his brothers too. My celebrity status as a military giant gave me credibility with the people and power with the king -- BUT they meant nothing to God - He already knew my name and knew that the King's time was short. It wasn't long until the King who had applauded me was now trying to kill me. And after barely escaping the edge of his javelin throw for the umpteenth time, I figured it'd be safer on the road -- until at which time God chose to call me back home. So we've been living in caves, out in the middle of fields, whereever we could find cover and shelter. We've been hunted, sought for, chased, and surely would have died were it not for the protecting hand of our great God. One day we were so hungry, that we stopped by the temple and the priest gave me bread from the table inside the holy place and allowed my men to have food. Realizing we were in trouble, I led my men quickly to this town called Gath. But King Achish wants to kill me because he sees me as a threat - so rather than die at his hand and my destiny be squashed - I think it might be necessary for me to act like I have rabies - so I think that's what I'll do. And so even though it's been pretty lousy of late - I remember a time not so long ago when I killed a bear and I killed a lion. I remember a time not so long ago when the prophet Samuel came to my house and poured oil on my head and told my Daddy that I was going to be the next king of Israel. It may seem like a pipe dream considering all we've been through but I remember. Although, things are rough right now, I've never seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed beggin for bread so, while you may think I've lost my mind - and King Achish is going to send me away rather than kill me because he thinks that there is something wrong with me - forgive me, but I think I need to write a song. . .

"I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD;The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears." (Now go read the rest of Psalm 34 for your self - it's a cool song when you know the background.)

So is it possible to, as David says, bless the Lord at all times? Can His praise CONTINUALLY be in our mouth? In good times? In bad times? In glad times? In sad times? In good weather? In the midst of the storm? When life has treated you great? When all hell has broken loose in your home? Can we say, as Job said, standing in the face of all the evil that had befallen him on his fateful day, "The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away, Naked I came into this world and Naked I'm gonna go -- Blessed be the name of the Lord." Can you say as David did - "I will bless the LORD at all times. . ."

It's easy to bless and to praise God in the midst of a sunshiney day. But boy, when the wind starts to blow, the thunder rolls, the lightning strikes, the rain beats all around us, it certainly is much tougher to stand and say - Blessed be the name of the Lord. I met a new friend a little over a month ago. We were looking for a new home and he was the agent showing one to us. As we met, we began to talk and share things, we discovered that we had something in common. We both are absolutely crazy about Jesus Christ. I am confident that I met my new friend, Chad, by divine appointment. For you see 15 minutes before we met, he had received a phone call from his wife who was letting him know that she had just been diagnosed with cancer. After he showed me the house, we exchanged information and he sent me an email. He told me that he could feel the presence of the Lord around my family and God had told him to have me pray. He shared with me his families dilemna and His confidence that God was able. A month later, we've continued to pray and believe God for His very best in the life of Chad and Terry. We've asked God to heal Terry and we believe that He is going to do something amazing there. Today, I received an email and to be honest in my flesh I wanted to be down. The doctor has set up a chemo and radiation plan and it doesn't seem at this point that God has done what we asked. But as I read the report and I read his wife's response, my whole attitude changed. Chad and Terry, in faith, said, we don't understand but we know that it will work together for the good and that if nothing else good had come from this, there were some people who had started coming to church to be with Terry during this ordeal. They chose to Bless God no matter what. They chose to take on the spirit of David - and have praise continually in their mouth. You see, they've come to the conclusion that whether he answers with a "YAY" or a "NAY" - He is still God and His name is worthy to be praised.

And so - I will bless the LORD at ALL TIMES - His praise shall CONTINUALLY be in my mouth. Am I in a storm? Yep! Has everything worked out the way I thought it would or should? Nope! But regardless of how things are - I'm gonna bless the LORD. God is good - God is great - God is worthy - God is love - God gives me hope - God protects my family - God is ABLE - God knows my end from my beginning - He knows the plans He has for me - He knew what I would face today LONG BEFORE I got to this place and He who began a good work in me WILL see it through to the day of it's completion.

Are you facing a battle right now? It's ok to admit it. But in the midst of the battle, why don't you take a moment and give credit to the one who gives you strength to fight on? Why don't you take a moment and honor the one who clothed you in spiritual armor so that you could withstand the fight of the enemy? Why don't you, right now, offer thanksgiving and praise to the one who gives you the ability to stand when everything around is sinking sand? Why don't you just take a moment and give some worship to the one who is worthy of all? In case you're confused - His name is Jesus - there is none like Him. He can build a highway in the dessert, walk on top of crashing waves, ride on the wind, breath life into those things that are dead - and today He is able to do more in your situation in a moment than you could do by investing a lifetime. Why not take David at his word - and say - "I will bless the LORD at all times."

Love all of you - thanks for continuing to read with me on this journey - God bless - Until next time - RP