Young People's Group

MAKE A JOYFUL SHOUT TO GOD (II)

by Pastor Mitch
August 19, 2012

“Oh Bless Our God, You Peoples”

Bethany’s 39th Church anniversary is less than two weeks away. As we draw closer to this annual day of joyful celebration and worship, our hearts should all be geared towards giving our best praise to our awesome yet personal God. At the beginning of Psalm 66, the Psalmist makes a call for all nations to give joyful praise to the Lord for His breath-taking works. Throughout the psalm, he continues to reiterate his call for all people to bless this wonderful God.

“Oh bless our God, you peoples!
And make the voice of His praise to be heard” 
Psalm 66:8

The word “bless” means to bow before the Lord and to adore Him. Humbly and joyfully, we are to give honor and glory to our great and almighty God. There is a fervent call to all to bless this God whom we have come to personally appreciate and honor. We are to actively use our voices to sing songs of praise to God so that they would be heard loud and clear.

Reasons For Blessing The Lord

What are some reasons for to us to bless the Lord in this manner?

1. The Preserving Work Of The Lord

“Who keeps our soul among the living,
And does not allow our feet to be moved.” 
Psalm 66:9

It is God who specially preserves us and mercifully keeps us alive. God specially protected His people as they walked through the wilderness for forty years and He did not allow their feet to slip. God preserved the remnant that they may see the promised land. Let’s thank God that we are still alive today to celebrate our anniversary this year. Let’s not take for granted the Lord’s preserving hand in our life. That God keeps us among the living is reason enough to bless Him.

2. The Refining Work Of The Lord

“For You, O God, have tested us;
You have refined us as silver is refined.” 
Psalm 66:10

The Lord does not just preserve us. He wants the best for us and to bless us. To bring about these good things, the Lord has to allow us to go through His refining work. The people of Israel were refined as silver. They went through much affliction when they were in Egypt. They went through fire and water that God may test them (Psalm 66:12). And the Lord blessed them with abundance of satisfaction. Let’s rejoice also in the refining work that God does in our life. Our faith will become that much more precious because of it.

Bringing An Appropriate Thanksgiving Offering To The Lord

“I will offer You burnt offerings of fat animals,
With the sweet aroma of rams;
I will offer bulls with goats.” 
Psalm 66:15

With thanksgiving to God, we should bring a special offering of “fatness” to the Lord. Let’s not just bring an offering that does not cost us much to the Lord this anniversary. The Psalmist determined to bring rams, bulls and goats to the Lord as offerings. That must have cost him quite a bit. Let’s also offer to the Lord a special offering that He would be pleased with. Let’s give with hearts full of appreciation and love for the Lord at our Church anniversary.

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