Finished reading through Psalms again. Had a fun time imagining working with the grandkids to put Psalm 148 to song--or more likely shouting--and action! I couldn’t help smile to myself as in my mind’s eye I could see them reciting and acting out motions:

“Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights (with some motions to indicate ‘way up there’ heavens and heights)!

Praise Him, all His angels (wings and halos);

Praise Him sun and moon; Praise Him all stars of light (some hold up placards with pictures of moon and stars in the night sky)!

Praise Him highest heavens, and the waters that are above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and they were created. He has also established them forever and ever; He has made a decree which will not pass away.

Praise the LORD from the earth, sea monsters (what fun we could have with this one!) and all deeps;

Fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word (more pictures and a lot of blowing!);

Mountains and all hills; fruit trees and all cedars;

(And here comes some fun ones) Beasts and all cattle; creeping things and winged fowl (I see them happily crawling on the ground for “creeping things” and animals, flapping their arms for birds; they’d love that);

Kings of the earth (gold crowns on heads) and all peoples;

Princes and all judges of the earth;

Both young men and virgins (have 5 of those in the cast, bowing and curtsying); old men and children (I can see my 6 year old grandsons mimicking old men, the 2 year olds jumping forward as the children).

Let them praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted; His glory is above earth and heaven (the kids shouting the words at the top of their lungs!).

And He has lifted up a horn for His people, praise for all His godly ones; even for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him.

Praise the LORD!”

What a great time we could have!

And the best part is, they would be learning the Truth. They would be putting the Word of God into their minds where it can work down into their hearts. And they’d have fun doing it!

It’s all in my imagination right now, but one of these days hopefully we can carry out some of these kinds of activities with our grandchildren. Not only do we enjoy having fun with our grandkids, but we take seriously our responsibility to do things with our children, and now our grandchildren, teaching them the Word of God and leading by example with love.

We’ve been admonished, as parents and even grandparents:

I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God commanded me…Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. (Moses, in Deuteronomy 4: 5, 9)

We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done. (Asaph, in Psalm 78: 4)

There are a variety of ways to pass on truth to our children and grandchildren. Reading the Bible and missionary stories with them; including them in prayer times and rejoicing with them when God answers those prayers; accompanying them on service projects in the community or further afield, studying the Bible with them, talking about all kinds of life situations, helping them make applications of truth to their lives; all these and more we can do as we are given the opportunity, first as parents and then as grandparents. And we can always pray for them whether we are near or far away.

Then we will be doing exactly what Moses, Asaph and other writers of scripture said to do, for they were inspired by God’s Holy Spirit to write down for us what God wants us to do.

“Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.”  Psalm 142: 7 NIV

Today in my regular daily reading of the Psalms I came to Psalm 142. Though I have other margin notes next to verse 7 dating back to 1992, I remember this verse mostly for a different reason. But days before I read that verse, I had come to this verse in Psalm 111:1.  Here is my response:

             Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart…(Psalm111:1a) NASB

            No, I don’t feel like praising God today. I just got this diagnosis of cancer. Cancer! It can kill me! God, I’m not happy about this and I don’t feel like praising You….

            …but I know I have to. I won’t survive unless I change my mind. Oh God my Father, help me!

            I will praise the LORD…I don’t feel like it, but I choose to praise Him…in the company of the upright and in the assembly.

           Great are the works of the LORD… (Psalm 111: 1b, 2a).

My margin note next to verse 1: “Verse after my breast cancer diagnosis Dec 2007. A choice to praise” (I underlined the word “choice”).

From my darkness of soul I came face to face with Light… and Life. I had a choice to make, right then, not the next day; this choice could not be put off. To not choose was to choose. If I chose not to choose to praise God in that moment, I was choosing not to praise God at all. The choice wouldn’t be easier the next day.

In a nano second I knew all this. My emotions were not a part of the equation here. Emotions must never be considered at such times! My Will had to decide. It is always a matter of the Will. Emotions will follow where the Will chooses to go.

I had learned enough through the years about the Lord I was supposed to praise that I recognized Who He is and in that Light, based on what I knew of this God, I made my decision.

            I will praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart. (v.1)

            I am going to publicly praise Him. I will praise Him before His people, “in the company of the upright and in the assembly”.

            Great are the works of the LORD….the LORD is gracious and compassionate (verses 2, 4).

Knowing this, I chose life, I chose to praise this gracious and compassionate and wonder working God. I chose hope for there is hope in no one and in nothing else.

Scrolling forward a few days, in my reading I came to Psalm 142:7. “Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.” 

This verse resonated within me. Cancer and its threat on my life and the muscle weakness (MG) which I’d had since 13 years of age, felt like “prison”. I asked God to free me from that prison so I could praise His name. Then the outcome of Him setting me free would be that His people, the righteous ones, “will gather about me because of your goodness to me.”

In that moment I made verse 7 my prayer. The outcome would be glory to God for His amazing work in this poor body. Because every chance I got, I would point out His goodness and mercy and works of might on my behalf.

Scroll forward again about 4 years to today when I read that verse again but now see some of the answers to my prayer. For almost 4 years I have been cancer free. For that long I have been stronger than ever I’ve been since 13 years old, when the muscle weakness (MG) began to manifest itself. Hundreds of people have learned of God’s goodness to me and praise Him for it.

Is this God I chose to praise in the fire truly a God of goodness, a God gracious and compassionate?

He had my vote then, He has it today.