Bible Studies

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The Psalms
Psalm 113 – Living our Praise
Key Verses: (MSG)

• 1: “Hallelujah! You who serve God, praise God! Just to speak His name is praise!” – We can praise God in our acts of service and in our mentioning of His name to others.
  
  
• 3: “From east to west, from dawn to dusk, keep lifting all your praises to God!” – Our job is not complete until our songs of praise saturate all time and space.
  
  
• 5-6: “Who can compare with God, our God, so majestically enthroned, surveying His magnificent heavens and earth?” – Do we need any more reason to lift up praises to the Creator of all the universe?
  
  
• 7: “He picks up the poor from out of the dirt, rescues the wretched who’ve been thrown out with the trash.” - God sees value in each and everyone one of us, no matter how wretched we might feel.
  
  
• 8: “Seats them among the honored guests, a place of honor among the brightest and best.” – The humble and meek shall be exalted.
  

Points to Contemplate:

• How many times a day do you praise God? Do you praise Him with the rising of the sun? In the setting of the same? Do you praise Him wherever you may traverse? To the east and to the west? Do you fill every moment of your life with His praise? Is there a place in your life that you cannot sing Hallelujah? Do you see that we are to fill every crack in time and void in space with our praises to God?
  
  
• In what ways do you praise God? Is praising God simply a verbal endeavor? Or can you praise God in your actions as well? Is living your life focused on Him an act of praise? In those times when you have lost your temper or when you are indulging in self-pity and self-righteousness, does the awareness that these actions are not praise-worthy help you to correct your behavior? Can praise for God then become a process of purification and sanctification as well? Are you made holy by your praise?
  
  
• Are you worthy of God’s love? Do you feel that He has saved you from the dust and ashes of life? Has He lifted you up, dusted you off, polished your chrome, and set you onto a place of honor and prestige? Are you on His mantle, prominently displayed for the world to see? Does His light shine through you and into the lives of those still floundering in the trash bin of life? Will you help to lift them so that God can turn them into princes and honored guests for His kingdom?
  
  
• Do you treat the unwanted in society as though they have value?³ Or do you look upon them with scorn, ridicule, and neglect? Are you judgmental and self-righteous? If God sees value in you must there also be value in the needy people you walk by every day? Do your actions demonstrate an understanding of the value that God holds for all people? Do you help make everyone you meet feel like “honored guests” in God’s kingdom?
  

Promise of the Gospel:

Our praise to God is a natural expression of His love coursing through our lives. He has lifted us from the ashes of hopelessness and has cleansed us from the stains of sin. In response, we are to praise Him from the dawning of each day and throughout every wakeful moment. Everywhere we go and everything we do should reflect our love and praise for Him. No one is unwanted by God. Our actions should demonstrate that all people are valuable and useful in God’s eyes. When we do this it becomes a song of praise greater than the loudest hallelujah.

³ “Life Application Bible, NRSV,” notes PS 113:5-9, pp 1002.

FUMC Devotionals

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