PRAISING THE LORD

"Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name."

- Psalm 63:4

David was a man after God's own heart.  He was a man who praised the Lord.  He wrote many of the psalms.  David was not afraid to express his adoration of God.  In the 63rd Psalm, David expresses his love and worship of God. 

In the first three verses of the psalm, David states his desire for God and his high view of the Lord.  In our text, he writes, "Thus will I bless thee while I live."  David had many reasons to praise the Lord & so do we. 

The word, "bless" in the King James Version is literally translated, "praise."  David writes that he will praise the Lord, "... while I live."  While it is true that we'll be praising God throughout eternity in heaven, it is wrong to wait until heaven to begin praising Him.  He deserves our praise right now. 

I believe that we tend to spend more time complaining than we do in praise.  This is a mistake.  Our blessings far outweigh our complaints.  Despite the problems we face, God is worthy of our praise.  He deserves our praise because of who He is. 

Our text closes with this promise from David:  "I will lift up my hands in thy name."  I must admit that I grew up in churches that didn't actively promote lifting up hands in worship.  Yet our text teaches us that lifting up hands in praise is a good thing.  When we lift up our hands, it is a sign of surrender.  We need to daily surrender our lives to God.  When we lift up our hands, we physically extend ourselves toward God.  We should continually offer ourselves in the service of God.  Also, when we lift up our hands, we are physically posturing ourselves to receive.  In worship, it is not God's blessings that we seek, but God Himself. 

We have much to praise Him for.  Like David, we should say, "Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name."