“Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.” (Psalm 111:1)
PRAISE for God is the theme of this verse. The command for praising, the consecration for praising and the crowds for praising are all included in the verse.
Command for praising. “Praise ye the LORD.” We are to praise God. The world is not so sure as they put limits on where God can be honored. But the world is run by Satan. It makes no difference what the world thinks, we are to praise God. Spurgeon said, “Do it now, do it always; do it heartily, do it unanimously, do it eternally.” Let us praise God with our lips and our lives. Much of the world only mentions God in profanity; God’s people are to mention God in praise. The ailments of the world and our own lives can be traced back to failure to praise God.
Consecration for praising. “I will praise the LORD with my whole heart.” The Psalmist exhorted others to “Praise ye the Lord.” Now he sets a good example by doing it himself. The best way to teach is by example. We need to practice what we preach. And our example needs to be an excellent example. This one was, for it was praise from the “whole heart.” It was not just empty rhetoric, or words without sincerity, for the Psalmist praised God with sincerity. It is the only kind of praise that counts.
Crowds for praising. “In the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.” The two different crowds here represent two different situations for praising God. The first crowd (assembly of upright) represents a small group while the second crowd (congregation) represents a large group. The lesson is that we should praise God no matter where we are or how many people are present. Just because you are in a small church with few in attendance should not stop your praising God. And when you are in a large crowd where some may oppose your praising, you still are to praise God. Some folk only praise God where it is acceptable to do so. Our text says to praise God everywhere regardless.
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