June 23, 2018 Saturday

“1 ¶  « A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath day. » It is good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; 2  To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night, 3  On an instrument of ten strings, On the lute, And on the harp, With harmonious sound. 4  For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands.” (Psalm 92:1-4 NKJV)

            This Psalm is called a Psalm for the Sabbath day. In the time of the Psalmist the Sabbath day was held on Saturday which was the day prescribed by God. Soon after the resurrection of Jesus Christians changed the Sabbath to Sunday as a celebration of the resurrection!

            Currently almost every year in mainline churches attendance continues to drop. Many congregations have only about one third of their membership attending worship. Denominations are shrinking and many church buildings are being sold to become museums, stores and housing complexes.

            Where have we as the church gone wrong? What have we lost? And more importantly how do we regain what we have lost?

            Perhaps what we have lost is our view of God. Do we celebrate and remember God’s goodness and lovingkindness? At times we can get so busy looking at our needs and our wants and because of our prayer requests we don’t have time to praise! Or would it be more honest to say we don’t take time to praise.

            In the song “Count your blessings” we are reminded to not only count the blessings of God but to name them! One of the reasons we often view God as being distant from us is we do not count our blessings or name them. Because of this we miss God working in our lives, our families and the world!

            The psalmist calls for us to use everything we are and everything we have to worship God! We are to use our voices, declaring God’s blessings, musical instruments and any other way to praise and honor God. We are called to declare the love and glory of God by the joy with which we worship God.

            Can you name the blessings God has placed upon your life? Do you desire to join together with a congregation to joyfully worship God? Will those around you desire to be a Christian by watching your life and your worship?