Psalm 144 (NIV)
I had the privilege of going to boarding school at the age of 11. As you can imagine, a boy who had a strong Bombay accent, spoke through his rather large nose and wore second-hand clothes got teased quite a bit. To be fair, I think only about one per cent of a boarding school population doesn't get teased.
Being teased about my accent doesn't come anywhere close to the persecution, hatred and pressures that David faced and describes in this Psalm.
I don't remember asking God to 'send forth lightning to scatter my enemies' or 'shoot arrows at them to rout them' (v6).
One thing that David and I did do the same though is found in verse 9. Well, the first half of verse 9 because, as you can imagine, I didn't have a 10-stringed lyre with me.
l sing a new song to you, O God; on the 10-stringed lyre I will make music to you.
I used to go to deep into the woods by my dormitory, take my Bible and spend time just worshipping and talking to God. Those were very precious times for me. I learnt to turn to God for help as my sisters lived elsewhere and I wasn't anywhere near my parents. But most of my time was spent just singing to God in my own words. Thinking about those times brings back emotion because they were times of such intimacy. I've said it numerous times in these posts, and I say it again, the praise of a broken heart is the sweetest song of all.
A few years later, I was having a difficult time again at school and my roommate knew full well of it. A number of mornings, he would come back from his shower to find me laughing. He wasn't a Christian and obviously thought I was having a proper psychological breakdown. But it was simply just the joy of coming before God in praise and worship.
Unfortunately it seems that as we get older we foolishly think we can handle things ourselves. In recent years, I have often chosen to find escape from the pressures of the world in TV or computer games. We all have our own little escapes, which aren't necessarily wrong, but the best we can do is turn to God with a new song.
With a family and lots of commitments it is a whole lot more difficult to find time to just worship than when I was 11 at boarding school. But it is also therefore so much more important to steal time away to worship. A little tip for the very busy - I often find that the times when I can be at home and worship without being interrupted are when I am washing up or cleaning the bathrooms. But nothing beats a nice long walk or an early morning on my knees, or indeed meeting to pray and worship with friends on a Friday morning.
Through times of difficulty (and I am not referring to washing up or cleaning bathrooms!) singing songs of praise and worship may be one of the hardest things to do, but I am sure most of us can testify that it is the best thing to do.
I used to go to deep into the woods by my dormitory, take my Bible and spend time just worshipping and talking to God. Those were very precious times for me. I learnt to turn to God for help as my sisters lived elsewhere and I wasn't anywhere near my parents. But most of my time was spent just singing to God in my own words. Thinking about those times brings back emotion because they were times of such intimacy. I've said it numerous times in these posts, and I say it again, the praise of a broken heart is the sweetest song of all.
A few years later, I was having a difficult time again at school and my roommate knew full well of it. A number of mornings, he would come back from his shower to find me laughing. He wasn't a Christian and obviously thought I was having a proper psychological breakdown. But it was simply just the joy of coming before God in praise and worship.
Unfortunately it seems that as we get older we foolishly think we can handle things ourselves. In recent years, I have often chosen to find escape from the pressures of the world in TV or computer games. We all have our own little escapes, which aren't necessarily wrong, but the best we can do is turn to God with a new song.
With a family and lots of commitments it is a whole lot more difficult to find time to just worship than when I was 11 at boarding school. But it is also therefore so much more important to steal time away to worship. A little tip for the very busy - I often find that the times when I can be at home and worship without being interrupted are when I am washing up or cleaning the bathrooms. But nothing beats a nice long walk or an early morning on my knees, or indeed meeting to pray and worship with friends on a Friday morning.
Through times of difficulty (and I am not referring to washing up or cleaning bathrooms!) singing songs of praise and worship may be one of the hardest things to do, but I am sure most of us can testify that it is the best thing to do.
Love this post!!
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