Praise Devotionals Series

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Praise Devotionals- 10

On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song: "When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves, praise the Lord. (Judges 5:1, 2)

The question is:

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Praise Devotionals- 11

The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth." (Ruth 4:14, 15)

Finally a time of rejoicing had come into the life of Naomi after all the anguish that she had endured in her life. She was a widow and had lost both her sons and the only thing that she had solace in was her daughter-in-law Ruth who had taken a decision to stay with her come what may.

Naomi had returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?" "Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."

Wonder whether the Lord had much to do with all the misfortune that she talked about; perhaps it was the agony that she was going through that made her say all that. Nevertheless, the Bible affirms that,

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Praise Devotionals- 12

David said to Abigail, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.

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Praise Devotionals- 13

I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. (2 Samuel 22:4)

David sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. David had a lot of enemies beginning with Saul and continuing with characters like his own family members especially his son Absalom who wanted to usurp his authority as king and rule the land instead.

But the delivering mighty arm of the Lord was always with David and though he had to go through some very difficult situations, God finally gave him victory after victory when he cried out to the Lord.

The enemy of all believers- Satan is always out to defeat us in one way or the other. Jesus said, The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)Satan is jealous of

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Praise Devotionals- 14

"The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God, the Rock, my Savior! He is the God who avenges me, who puts the nations under me, who sets me free from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men you rescued me. Therefore I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing praises to your name. (2 Samuel 22:47-50)

Some pure praise from a man, of whom God said,

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And the king bowed in worship on his bed and said, `Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has allowed my eyes to see a successor on my throne today.

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Praise Devotionals- 16

Then he said: "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. (1 Kings 8:15)

The project that Solomon set out to complete i.e. building a temple for the Lord, was a mammoth one and in the process he realized that it was not his hands that had worked out the whole thing but the hand of God. Thus he praised the Lord for the same and also proclaimed that God had fulfilled his promise to his father, David.

Sometimes people think it is their education or skill or talent that has made them what they are; as some say,

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Praise Devotionals- 17

When David was old and full of years, he made his son Solomon king over Israel. He also gathered together all the leaders of Israel, as well as the priests and Levites. The Levites thirty years old or more were counted and the total number of men was thirty-eight thousand. David said, "Of these, twenty-four thousand are to supervise the work of the temple of the Lord and six thousand are to be officials and judges. Four thousand are to be gatekeepers and four thousand are to praise the Lord with the musical instruments I have provided for that purpose." (1 Chronicles 23:1-5)

Towards the end of the above passage we read that David set apart 4000 Levites for worship. They were supposed to praise the Lord with musical instruments that David had provided for this purpose.

That must have been a sizable crowd at every worship session not counting the commoners.

Worship has great importance in God

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Praise Devotionals- 18

David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, "Praise be to you, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. (1 Chronicles 29:10-13)

One of the great assets in the life of David was his zeal to praise the Lord and glorify him whenever the opportunity arose. Not that one needs an opportunity to praise God. He is worthy to be praised at all times and in all seasons. Not climatic seasons, but seasons of joy, seasons of grief, some good seasons when praise comes spontaneously while some bad seasons when we may not even feel like praising him because of adverse circumstances in our life.

One of the phrases we read here is

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Praise Devotionals- 19

And Hiram added: "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth! He has given King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and discernment, who will build a temple for the LORD and a palace for himself. (2 Chronicles 2:12)

Hiram, king of Tyre had earlier built a palace for King David. When he heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. When Solomon set out to build a temple for the Lord, he asked for help from Hiram.

When Hiram heard Solomon's message, he was greatly pleased and said, "Praise be to the LORD today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation." So Hiram sent word to Solomon: "I have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cedar and pine logs. My men will haul them down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you specify. There I will separate them and you can take them away. And you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household." (1 Kings 5:7-9)

In this way Hiram kept Solomon supplied with all the cedar and pine logs he wanted, and Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat as food for his household, in addition to twenty thousand baths of pressed olive oil. Solomon continued to do this for Hiram year after year.

Hiram took great interest in this project that Solomon had undertaken and on Solomon