Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him! 2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. 3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. 4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. 5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit. 6 The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.

Did you ever wonder why God told Israel to not make any idols or images in the likeness of anything on earth? Why would people (and especially people who had seen the presence of God and seen his power displayed in miraculous ways) want to worship an image or an idol? Do we sometimes wonder why or how this might even apply to us today? Perhaps we actually live in the most idol infested society that has ever been on the earth! While most of us do not have images to which we bow down or offer incense; what really is our god and our understanding of God?

In our finite minds we cannot grasp a being so holy that he would never even consider doing something that is
wrong. We cannot fathom one who is so filled with love that every thought and motive is designed for the good of others. We cannot imagine one whose justice is so demanding that they cannot even consider injustice as a possibility for themselves. Then, we try to consider infinity in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Or, we ponder the unlimited ability of God in power and the ability to not be limited by time and space. It is no wonder we try to make ourselves gods after our own likeness – gods that we can understand.

The other option is for us to actually accept by faith this God who is eternal, infinite (in every way) and who is by nature loving, compassionate, merciful and caring. We also know that even in all this, God is so personal that he knows my situation and cares about me – about me as a person.

How good and how fitting that we praise God! We praise him for his majesty and for his power! We praise him for his love toward each of us!

O God, I do lift my heart in praise to you. I praise you for your daily care and protection in my life. I thank you and praise you for the physical blessings you shower on me every day. I thank you for my family and my friends who so bountifully show me their love. I thank you for the spiritual blessings in Jesus Christ; for your forgiveness and the fellowship I enjoy with you and with your other children. Please continue to forgive me when I fail to live up to your glorious standard but help me never make excuses for my life. Give me strength and wisdom to be more like you. In Jesus’ name.

May God bless each of us as we live for him and praise him today.