Fall 2018, 40 Days of Prayer, Day 24
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! (Psalm 103:1 ESV)
A Call To Worship
Psalm 103 begins with the psalmist David stirring himself to worship and praise the Lord our God. The way “bless” is used here is in the sense of praising and worshiping, as the Hebrew word has the connotation of kneeling (i.e. kneeling in worship). Indeed, God is infinitely perfect and has no need of anything (Acts 17:25), so bless here cannot mean there is anything we can confer onto God. This also shows us that even someone as devout as David felt the need to command himself to worship the Lord. How easily we can fail to do so in the busy-ness and troubles of this life!
“O my soul, and all that is within me” is David’s exhortation to his entire being to worship the Lord. This recalls the Hebrew Shema in which the Israelites daily recited Deuteronomy 6:4-9 in which is the command to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Jesus reiterated the importance of this commandment in Matthew 22:35-40. Our worship should not be half-hearted or lukewarm. Do we find ourselves getting more excited about earthly things than about the Lord Himself who made everything and who gave Himself for us?
“His holy name” does not merely refer to the covenant name of God, YHWH, but is meant to encompass all of His attributes and perfections. When we praise God, we are worshiping Him for all of His glorious attributes such as His love, His mercy, His might, His omniscience, His holiness, and all the many other wonderful and unique aspects of our amazing God.
Prayer Focus
Lord, I praise You for all You are and command all of my heart, mind, and soul to worship You. I recognize my sinfulness and how often I fail to worship You wholeheartedly as I should. Forgive me for allowing anything to take Your place in my heart. Please give me a heart that desires You above all other things, and help me see the beauty of who You are so that I may praise You with the greatest depth of my being! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Sermon by John Wesley “The Important Question”
"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Matthew 16:26
The man who chooses to gain the world by the loss of his soul, supposes that "a life of wickedness is a life of happiness!" That wickedness is happiness! Even an old heathen poet could have taught him better. Even Juvenal discovered, Nemo malus felix: "no wicked man is happy." And how expressly does God himself declare, "There is no peace for the wicked!" No peace of mind: And without this, there can be no happiness. I ask now, what can make a wicked man happy? You answer, "He has gained the whole world." What does this imply? He has gained all that gratifies the senses: In particular, all that can please the taste; all the delicacies of meat and drink. True; But can eating and drinking make a man happy? They never did yet: And certain it is, they never will. This is too coarse of food for the immortal spirit. But suppose it did give him a kind of happiness, during those moments wherein he was eating and swallowing; what will he do with the residue of his time? Will it not hang heavy upon his hands? Will he not groan under many a tedious hour, and think swift-winged time flies too slow? If he is not completely busy, will he not frequently complain of lowness of spirits? An unmeaning expression; which the miserable physician usually no more understands than his miserable patient. We know there are such things as nervous disorders. But we know likewise, that what is commonly called nervous lowness is a secret reproof from God; a kind of consciousness that we are not in our place; that we are not as God would have us to be: We are unhinged from our proper center. To remove, or at least soothe, this strange uneasiness, let him add the pleasures of imagination. Let him bath himself with silver and gold, and adorn himself with all the colors of the rainbow. Let him build splendid palaces, and furnish them in the most elegant as well as costly manner. Let him lay out walks and gardens, beautified with all that nature and art can afford. And how long will these give him pleasure? Only as long as they are new. As soon as ever the novelty is gone, the pleasure is gone also. After he has surveyed them a few months, or years, they give him no more satisfaction. The man who is saving his soul, has the advantage over him in this very respect. For he can say, in the pleasures of the rich man, I unenvied understand my place; While every fair object my eye can survey contributes to gladden my heart for it reminds me of my soul’s destined rest.