Daily Thought for Wednesday 19th March 2025
“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.”
Psalm 105:1-2 (NIV)
Rubbish, dog dung and rejoicing
Graeme Glover
There are few greater pleasures than joyfully praising God through a favourite hymn or worship song. It’s a wonderful life when you get to share with others something wonderful God that has done for you. In the good moments, life as a believer can be unspeakably brilliant. Give praise to the Lord indeed.
Yet Psalm 105 encourages us to do something more. It is showing us that we can still joyfully rejoice in God, even when life is rubbish. Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice (verse 3). The Psalm encourages us to always look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always (verse 4).
This is one of the great challenges of our earthly lives: how do we rejoice in God even when it feels like he has forgotten us? How can we still praise our Saviour when life takes us through the darkest valley? What this Psalm is saying to us is that the more we know God, the more we will be able to rejoice in God, no matter the circumstances.
The apostles eventually realised this. Peter wrote about how even going through the “trial of your faith,” you are still able to rejoice with “joy unspeakable” (1 Peter 1:7-8, KJV). Paul wrote that the more he realised the privilege of knowing Jesus as his Master, the more he realised that everything lost in life – every heartbreak – was like “dog dung” in comparison (Philippians 3 7-10, The Message).
As we continue together on this journey through Lent, may we all get to know our Saviour more.
Shall we pray?:
God, help us to find the ways, motivation and time through which to know you more. Help us to be able to sing your praises, in both the good and bad times of this life. Help us to increasingly believe that faith can sing through days of sorrow and all, all is well. Amen.
Thinking it through:
Do you believe that it is still possible to rejoice even in the moments when life breaks our hearts?
How can you find the time, the motivation and the means through which to know God more?
Graeme Glover is minister of Galashiels.