PSALM TWENTY SIX

WORSHIP AND WITNESS. 
   
   In recent days great emphasis has been laid upon worship and
thanksgiving; and rightly so. But in the minds of many there is a trend
away from the theological. This does not make sense, as theology is the
science of religion, dealing with the knowledge of God. How can we
worship what we do not know?  Conversely, how easily we can be led away
in our worship if we know not God. 
   Psalm 26 demonstrates that there are prerequisites to worship.
Before the psalmist sings, "I will publish with the voice of
thanksgiving" (v.7), he has asked the Lord for a positive search and
promised a negative abstinence. "Judge me O Lord!" he cries in his
opening verse. Literally it is, 'give me justice.'  Deliver me from a
condition in which, if it were regarded as permanent, it would be
unrighteous to allow me to remain in. This is a good maxim to apply to
life. God is NOT unrighteous; He cannot leave me in a position which
cannot be justified. When people say, "If you were in my place, you
would not praise the Lord!" they are making a most unjust complaint. 
   "Examine me!" says the psalmist - purify me, as by fire; melt me, to
sort out the dross; burn me, to destroy the rubbish; assay me, to see
what is pure gold. Discover what percentage of my life pleases God.
Test the source of my life. (Reins and heart are literally kidneys and
heart.)  God is concerned with that part of us which is vital to
living.  
   The psalmist then details those necessary negative abstinences. "I
have not sat with vain persons."  Bingo Halls and Breaking of Bread do
not mix. "Neither will I go in with dissemblers."  Dissemblers play
act, hide their true selves, cover their tracks. There must be an
openness among God's people. "I have hated the congregation of
Evildoers."  People are known by the company they keep. "I will wash
mine hands in innocency," symbolically protesting innocence. 
   "THAT I MAY PUBLISH - that I may cause to be heard the voice of
thanksgiving."  This wonderful phrase could be translated in three
ways:- 
   1. To publish thanksgiving with the voice. 
   2. To publish with a thankful voice. 
   3. To recount all thy wondrous works with the Voice of Thanksgiving.

   How futile is the protest of many, "I thank God in my heart."  If
the heart has been examined and knows the "things done wondrously" by
the Lord, then the mouth will publish praise. True worship comes out of
a heart which has known the wondrous works of God, and knows He is
righteous in all His dealings with us.  



Copyright (c) 1995, Hedley Palmer. All rights reserved.



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