“I will hope continually
and will praise you yet more and more.
My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for their number is past my knowledge.
With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone
O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs,
O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.
I will also praise you with the harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have redeemed.
And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long.” Psalm 71:14-24a
Life here below is a continuum entwined with our Lord’s life without end. His infinite goodness punctuates our daily experiences and trials again and again, so that from morning to evening, from earth to heaven, from youth to old age, from this generation to the next, He is faithful and worthy of knowing and exaltation. If His righteous deeds and might and salvation never end, then neither must our hope and praise and telling.
The more we look for, count, and recite God’s deeds, the more indistinguishable they are from everything else we perceive. As we rejoice in His providential presence and attention to what concerns us, it becomes natural to trace His sovereign hand in all we encounter. His wonder and power leave their mark everywhere, and we cannot help but sing of His grace in reviving, raising, and redeeming on our behalf. Our breathing becomes a melody of praise that is ongoing, and growing. (Psalm 138:8)
Do I go about my days immersed in God’s goodness and thought? Do I fit on His lenses of grace and expectancy each morning, and secure the helmet of His salvation, so I detect what happens as from Him, and act on His behalf? Does my praise of Him issue only in staccato phrases when things go well, or as an overarching, joyful chorus through my days? Whatever responsibilities or confrontations, choices or difficulties I face, there can flow through all continual hope and gratitude. (Ephesians 6:17; Colossians 3:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Trusting God, and exalting Him more and more, comes by act of will. The more we hope, the more we see, the more we sing. Will praise and joy be my theme today, and always, and increasingly?
Lord, let me never separate daily life from a continual mindset of marveling and hope in Your redemption and kindness. Keep me captivated with You, High and Holy One, ever singing for joy and blessing Your name. (Psalm 72:19)
As the rain and snow 