Exalting and Praising God

 1 I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.
2 Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever. (Ps 145:1-2)

Exalt = to raise someone or something to a higher rank or position; to praise or glorify highly; to hold in very high regard. 

How many times do I come to God the King of the universe and say I will exalt Him without even understanding what the word means? He is already King, Creator, and infinite in every way. There is no way I can raise Him to a higher rank or position because there is no higher, no greater position. It is also very self-exalting to think that I have any ability to bestow any higher glory to Him. I can’t even understand how I can hold Him in high regard because whatever elevation I can imagine is still finite and He is infinite. What I can do is praise Him. 

Praise= the act of expressing approval, admiration, or worship toward someone or something, often through words or songs. 

Even in my praise, I must be careful. If I use that worldly definition, then expressing my approval smacks of judging Him. What a blasphemous idea! Admiration doesn’t even cut it even though it is necessary. Worship is the only thing that comes close to what my praise must be about. My worship in word or songs is woefully inadequate for my God. But that shall not stop me from coming to Him through Jesus Christ. Because it is only by being in Christ that my worship and praise and exaltation is acceptable to Him.

Thank you, Jesus, for enabling me to exalt and praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit forever.

My Mind

Prov 29:11 "A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back" (ESV). 

"A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control" (NIV).

This is always a good reminder. While the NIV, NAS, and NLT talk about anger. The NAS footnote says, “literally, ‘sends forth all his spirit’”. The NKJV says feelings, the KJV says the fool utters all his mind. The Message says the fool lets it all hang out.

I learned the NIV and it has served me well in regard to anger. But these other versions opens up more than just anger. I looked up the word for anger and it is ruwach. Literally – wind. The pronunciation even sounds like wind. Gen 1:2 uses it for the Spirit. All of these variations are listed in the concordances.

With all this, I can see how all these versions are attempting to get at the idea that when I don’t control my emotional outbursts, I’m a fool. Those outbursts could also be something other than anger. That might be what the Message is hinting at or the KJV when it says he utters all his mind. I don’t want everyone know everything that is in my mind. It will only prove me a fool.

Lord, give me self-control because my mind is still subject to depravity.

A Delivered Fool

 

Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered. Prov 28:26

When I read this, it reminds me of total depravity. I am not wise because of the fall. Before coming to Christ for salvation and being made a new creation (2 Cor 5:17), I was dead in my sins and transgressions (Eph 2:1). That lack of wisdom means that what I thought was wise was really foolishness. I thought that I could do whatever I wanted as long as it didn’t hurt anyone. I was right there on the edge of thinking that I could do anything I wanted as long as I didn’t get caught. Wow, when I think of that now, I’m astounded that I could have been such a fool.

But now, I’ve been made new by being born again. I’ve been made alive with Jesus Christ (Eph 2:5). I’ve been delivered from my old self to be a new creature in Jesus. Jesus is often equated with wisdom. When I walk with Jesus, I’m walking in and with wisdom. He has delivered me. My walk is totally credited to Jesus, and it isn’t of my own doing. Yes, I have to obey, but before he made me alive, I couldn’t possibly obey. I didn’t even want to. But now, I want to obey even though I still sin and disobey at times. But I’m forgiven!

Lord, thank you for freeing me from my own sinful mind and delivering me for eternity with you.