The psalmist wrote this praise song:
29 But I am afflicted and in pain; may Your salvation, O God, set me securely on high.
30 I will praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving.
31 And it will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 The humble have seen it and are glad; you who seek God, let your heart revive!
33 For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise His who are prisoners (Psalm 69:29–33, NASB).
Surely, a tell-tale trait of any true born-again believer is a passion to "praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving!"
I have spent the better part of the day – indeed, the best part of this week has most assuredly been the past six hours – reading sermons about thanksgiving. My meager little cup is running over right now with joy and worship. I am indebted to Spurgeon, Piper, Pritchard, and others for the spotlights they have shone on God’s Word and God’s works in my life. Their cues have prompted me to raise my voice in jubilant song to the Author of my salvation, the King of glory and grace! Hallelujah! Thank You, Lord Jesus!
As I write this article, I wish it were Sunday already so that we might together remember and rejoice and reckon our lives to have been best lived when we are immersed in thanksgiving. Of course, you are most likely reading this on Sunday as we prepare to celebrate in worship together. So, my prayer as I write and as you read is that these few paragraphs may serve to inspire us to "praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving." Take a moment right now to reflect with me on three thoughts about thanksgiving from Psalm 69:29-33.
1. Notice that the songwriter confesses a condition we do not naturally acquaint with thankfulness or gratitude.
In verse 29, the psalmist declares, "I am afflicted and in pain." In fact, much of this psalm is actually a prayer, a near frantic plea for rescue. His own foolishness and guilty acts (verse 5) have made him vulnerable to the attack of his enemies and accusers. The potential impact his failures could have on other believers burdens him (verse 6). Moreover, he yearns to worship the Lord, to honor Him, and to defend God’s honor (verse 9). Yet even from the pit in which he finds himself, he sings.
Why? How? Though he is needy and a prisoner, he is still Yahweh’s Own possession (verse 33)! He knows it is not who we are or what we are or what we’ve done that matters most, but Whose we are. Our identity in Christ – not as perfect people but as undeserving sinners purchased by His blood – should be our focus. As God’s possession, we are not defined by our circumstances but by our relationship to God and the glorious consequences of His purposes and power in the lives of the people who put their hope in Him! Actually, this shifts our concentration from off ourselves onto the One Who deserves our attention and allegiance – the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. When with our lips and our lives we "praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving," other people can find hope and gladness and even recovery.
Verse 32 describes the impression and influence the Lord intends to make with our lives lived in this twisted world upon the lives of every other person who comes to the end of themselves and realizes they are in prison and in need. Perhaps this is why our crowns are not distributed to us until we get home (even then, we cast them at the feet of the Lamb!). Our medals and badges and awards for successfully passing through this world as if we were untouched and unsullied by its mud and muck, these do not impress people, nor do they attract them to our Savior. On the other hand, when we "magnify Him with thanksgiving" even as we grieve the death of loved ones or struggle to keep our families together; if we labor in the same trenches as our neighbors do, only with joy and confidence of our ultimate rescue; then we are more likely to encourage the people watching our lives to look to Someone bigger than themselves and find life.
3. Therefore, our singing – more than our successes or our sacrifices – pleases Father.
God, our Creator and Redeemer, is more pleased when we sing His praises and "magnify Him with thanksgiving" than when we perform religious rituals (verse 31). Consider that word, "magnify." John Piper suggests two different ways we might "magnify" something. A microscope or magnifying glass makes something appear greater than it is. But a telescope takes something that may seem small or insignificant and helps us see it as great as it really is.
So, here the psalmist does not mean: "I will make a small God look bigger than He is." That’s ridiculous! No, he means to say: "I will make a big God begin to look as big as He really is." Beloved, we are not called to be microscopes. We are made to be telescopes! – to reveal what an awesome God is our God, the Creator-King of the universe and our Redeemer!
"O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together" (Psalm 34:3). Let’s raise the rafters with our songs of praise this morning! Let’s raise the dead hopes of our FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, and Neighbors) as we "magnify Him with thanksgiving." Let’s make this a season of thanksgiving a springboard to get about the glorious task of thanks-living!
To the ends of the earth until the end of time!
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