It's nearing the end of the year, so I'll encourage readers of this post (yes, both of them) to read through the Bible in the coming year. Better still I would encourage readers to read through the Bible and devote time in the reading thereof for prayer. For those on a one-year plan, things tend to bog down in Numbers or Leviticus, but stick with it -- all Scripture is God-breathed (yes, even Leviticus).

I won't pretend I've kept my own plan perfectly. Don't get discouraged by missed days either. It just means there is all the more wealth ready to read when you do have a chance.

 

One thing I have noticed this year, since my particular reading plan takes me through Psalms twice, is a trend that I need to model in my own life. New year's resolutions are met in my mind with skepticism (why wait until another year begins), so my "henceforth" resolution is this:

Psalm 146:1-2

1

  Praise the LORD!
    Praise the LORD, O my soul!

  I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
    I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

 

Psalm 34:1

  I will bless the LORD at all times;
    his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Psalm 35:28

 

  Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
    and of your praise all the day long.

Psalm 63:4

 

  So I will bless you as long as I live;
    in your name I will lift up my hands.

Psalm 119:62

 

  At midnight I rise to praise you,
    because of your righteous rules.

There's so much more than what I've quoted above just in Psalms alone that points to continuous, unbroken praise.

Constant praise, regardless of the circumstances. In Psalm 22, David exalts His creator thusly:

Psalm 22:22

 

  I will tell of your name to my brothers;
    in the midst of the congregation I will praise you

Yet just a few verses earlier, David pours out his anguish to God, trusting in his Creator even when that Creator seems, from a human perspective, distant:

Psalm 22:1-3

  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?     Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

  O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
    and by night, but I find no rest.
  Yet you are holy,
    enthroned on the praises of Israel.

The passage in Psalm 34, quoted earlier in this post, was penned by David after faking dementia to escape the wrath of his own tyrannical son.

In Psalm 30, even as David pleads for renewed strength, his chief concern is that God be exalted:

Psalm 30:8-9

 

  To you, O LORD, I cry,
    and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
  "What profit is there in my death,
    if I go down to the pit?
  Will the dust praise you?
    Will it tell of your faithfulness?

 

This desire above all and in all and despite all to extol God, to glorify Him publicly, and to make His goodness known should drive me. It is my chief end, after all.

Lord, help me to do what You made me to do.