Daily Reading: 9 August

(from www.christianaid.org.uk)

Magnify the Lord

Something to read

I will bless the Lord at all time; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.  My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. 

- Psalms 34:1-3.

Something to think about

Do you always feel like praising God? 

I confess that it's something I struggle with! There are times when life gets us down and we feel it is all too much, and if someone suggests we praise God, we may not be very gracious in our response! 

Yet when we feel that way, who has changed; God or us?  We know it has much more to do with us, and our preoccupation with how we feel and what we want.  We're concerned that God should bless us, but do we ever think about how we can bless God? 

In his 1978 article, ‘What does it mean to bless God?, John Piper said  ‘..to bless God means to recognise his great richness, strength, and gracious bounty and to express our gratitude and delight in seeing and experiencing it.’ 

By taking time to praise and bless God, we appreciate something more of his greatness and his goodness and are drawn closer to him.

Something to do

Take time to reflect on and appreciate God; ‘his great richness, strength and gracious bounty’, and spend time in worship as you respond to him.

Something to pray

Almighty God you bless us in so many ways; help us to bless you as we appreciate you more. 

How we praise you, that you are good and generous God.

Today’s contributor is Rev John Fulton, General Secretary of the United Free Church of Scotland at the time of writing.