April 2
Reading: Psalm 149
1 Praise the LORD!
Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the godly!
2 Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King!
3 Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!
4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with salvation.
5 Let the godly exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishments on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with chains
and their nobles with fetters of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment written!
This is honor for all his godly ones.
Praise the LORD!
Psalm 149 continues the Great Praise. Thus, it begins and ends with “Praise the Lord.” This psalm is a call to God’s people to praise Him, to exalt in Him. “Let the high praises of God be in their throats.” (vs. 6)
Verses 1-4 show us that the Lord takes pleasure in us when we praise Him. It makes Him happy. And there is nothing that makes us happier than when we know that we are making God happy. This is why there is nothing more joyful and uplifting than true humble worship when God’s people are gathered together to praise Him. I have felt this in America, Russia, Turkey, Haiti, India, California, and the Philippines. (California is like a different country)
Years ago, when I was in the Philippines with Campus Crusade for Christ, I got to know a young leader who was there with us from Uganda, Peter Asimwe. Peter was a talented chess player, a good friend, and a vigorous prayer warrior. He had been a witness to some of the atrocities committed by the brutal thugs that kept Idi Amin in power as the ruler of Uganda in the mid 1970s. President Amin hated Christians and killed many of them.
I still recall praying with Peter these words of Psalm 149:5-9 against the enemies of God and on behalf of God’s precious people. I have never since prayed with anyone who has such a combination of humility and powerful confidence. Peter was sure in his praying that God was going to use us to judge God’s enemies. And Peter was happy about it.
This makes me think of the prayers of the saints described in Revelation 6:9-11.
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
Praise the Lord!