Devotional Tuesday: Your Whole Heart
Remember and give thanks
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Psalm 9:1–20 (ESV)
1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.2 I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.3 When my enemies turn back,
they stumble and perish before your presence.4 For you have maintained my just cause;
you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.5 You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;
you have blotted out their name forever and ever.6 The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;
their cities you rooted out;
the very memory of them has perished.7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
he has established his throne for justice,8 and he judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with uprightness.9 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.10 And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.11 Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion!
Tell among the peoples his deeds!12 For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.13 Be gracious to me, O Lord!
See my affliction from those who hate me,
O you who lift me up from the gates of death,14 that I may recount all your praises,
that in the gates of the daughter of Zion
I may rejoice in your salvation.15 The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.16 The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment;
the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah17 The wicked shall return to Sheol,
all the nations that forget God.18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.19 Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail;
let the nations be judged before you!20 Put them in fear, O Lord!
Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah
There have been many times in my life when I have come to God only to give him a small amount of praise. Let’s be honest, this will happen and likely it will happen occasionally—if not often. This may be something that can change over the many years of following Jesus but in the meantime, let us become aware that our humanness fails us and God.
When this happens, let us repent and come back to God with the highest praise.
David, a friend of God, did not always praise God with his whole heart. There are many times in the Psalms he comes with praise and concern. Yet, here in Psalm 9, David encourages us to come back to God today with the praise of our whole hearts.
1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.2 I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
Now, depending on our circumstances, our whole heart may look drastically different. Praise in the valley contrasts highly with praise at the top of the mountain. Yet, the posture of praise and the submission of our whole heart is foundational in offering thanks and praise to God wholeheartedly.
Praise can be a fickle thing.
Our fleshly hearts often want to reject praise and replace it with doubt, protest, or accusation. The straightforward solution to this volatility is remembrance. Where followers of Jesus employ aids like Communion, hymns, and testimony to often remember the faithfulness of God, the people of the Old Testament created altars and stories to pass down from generation to generation revealing the wonderful deeds of YHWH.
Recounting the wonderful deeds of God, his steadfast love and faithfulness brings us back to praise and thanksgiving with whole hearts.
A simple message.
Remember and give thanks, wholeheartedly.
Where has God proven faithful in your life?
How has God shown himself to be worthy of praise today?