May my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word. 170 May my supplication come before you; deliver me according to your promise. 171 May my lips overflow with praise, for you teach me your decrees. 172 May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous. 173 May your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts. 174 I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight. 175 Let me live that I may praise you, and may your laws sustain me. 176 I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands.

This is a petition of one who has “strayed like a lost sheep”. The Psalmist was a shepherd and he knew the potential destiny of a lost sheep. If not found, it would probably die of starvation or be killed by a wild animal. God seeks his servants when we wander from him. One of the ways that we can be found by God is thru his word. It is hi s word that gives us understanding, deliverance and teaching. It is his word that brings us salvation. It is no wonder the Psalmist says his lips would overflow with praise. Notice that not just his lips would praise God but he would live that he may praise him. It is important that we praise God with our lips and our tongue. We need to offer words of praise and sing songs of praise to him. But these are no good if our life does not conform to his will. The greatest praise we offer to God is our lives molded to his will for us. When I offer kind words to one who is hurting, I am giving praise to God. When I help someone who is in need, I praise God. When I resist some temptation to follow my own will or to say something I should not or to let my mind pursue and dwell on evil, I am praising God by allowing his will to control mine. Someone has suggested that if our heart is not totally in agreement with our actions then doing good has no value. Does our reluctance to do right negate the value of doing it? Consider Jesus, who in the garden, prayed to avoid the suffering and death he faced. Did he want to go thru with it? He said he did not. Yet, when he allowed the mob to convict him, the soldiers to beat him and mock him and then to ultimately crucify him, he gave praise to God by doing his will.

O God, please increase my faith. Help me to open my heart that you may fill it with your Spirit. Give me determination to study your word more often and to allow your will to become mine. Give me wisdom to understand your will for my life. I am weak and too often I am stubborn. I think too much of myself and what I want instead of what you want for me. Help me to get rid of self and replace it with your will and your way for me. Fill me with your love so that it overflows in every part of my life. I pray in the name of Jesus.

May God bless each of us as we praise him with our lips and lives.