so that I may declare all Your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion Psalm 9:14 Declare – When David declares the praises of God, he uses the Hebrew verb saphar. It implies a great deal more than a simple announcement. Saphar is the verb for “to count.” To declare all God’s praises…
I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your doing; I muse on the work of Your hands Psalm 143:5 Muse – If you want to see the primary meaning of this word, you’ll have to look at the Bible’s longest complaint – the book of Job. Job 7:11 says, “Therefore, I will…
I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your doing; I muse on the work of Your hands Psalm 143:5 Declare – Prayer proclaims. In praise, in cries, in pleas, in exultation, we have discovered that most prayer in the Hebrew world is vocalized. Prayer is the personal, announced testimony of the grace…
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord! Psalm 150:6 Praise – In the end, it’s haleluyah. If my life amounts to nothing more than praise for God, it will have reached its zenith. In fact, David tells us that the purpose of all creation is to praise Him. The Hebrew is…
O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting. 1 Chronicles 16:34 O Give Thanks – David knew what he was doing when he assigned Asaph the task of giving thanks to God. Asaph’s prayer, recorded in 1 Chronicles 16:8 to 36 is a powerful example all of us. …
A psalm of praise, of David (notation before Psalm 145:1) Psalm – Our title, “Psalms,” comes from the title found in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint). In fact, it is a transliteration of the Greek word psalmoi. That means the Greek word is not translated. It is simply phonetically moved…
You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied and praise the name of the LORD your God. Joel 2:26 Praise – The most common Hebrew word associated with prayer is palal. In most contexts, it means “praise.” Think about that for a minute. Hebrew prayer is eight times more likely to be about praise…
When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. Psalm 32:3 Groaning – We have all kept quiet about sin. And we have all suffered the consequences. David is absolutely right (and he would know). When I close the closet door on my sin, when I cover…
They have heard that I groan; there is no one to comfort me. Lamentations 1:21 Groan – If this word has never been part of your prayer vocabulary, I wonder if you have really experienced fatal dependence. Every biblical character whom God used to accomplish His purpose seems to have been intimately familiar with anaw…
Nevertheless, You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried to You. Psalm 31:22 Cried – There is no better place to discover the range of prayer than in the Psalms. In fact, a great number of the Psalms are actually called prayers. But guess what? Yesterday’s word “to pray” (athar) does not occur…
