Who do you hold in the highest esteem?
Glorify, Magnify, Revere …
1 Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.
9 In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” ~isaiah 25:1,9~
definition: verb 1. hold (someone or something) in very high regard; think or speak very highly of.
synonyms: extol, praise, glorify, venerate, deify, worship, reverence
how can you not speak of The One who came for you, for me, restoring us from death to life. in my case it was the dreaded disease of addiction/indulgence, self-righteousness/pride, adultery/pornography, and money/materials things. all the trappings of the world and i was dying, really killing myself each day, minute, and seconds of my life chasing after them, one after another, never being satisfied.
i love that this verse talks about the wonderful things - our islands, nature, animals, waves i get to surf, the people we love, to name a few. and, this also include us - you and me; as we are fearfully and wonderfully made. that means we are not junk, even if you and i have memories about the bad and sucky things we had done in our lives and that we do not deserve to be labeled (wonderful) as such. i feel this verse gets to a lot of people because if you never heard this being said about you, it gets lost on oneself because they will never believe it to be true.
verse 9 speaks of trust, in the Lord our God: why and what did He do - He saved us. i doubt most, if not all, individuals will call on someone they don’t know or don’t trust to help them in a very bad or difficult situation. why is that - because these people are likely to let you down and not be there for you. rather, you reach out to those you know, love, and have confidence in; the assurance that they will be there for you when called upon. that is God, Heavenly Father, Jesus, our Lord and Savior, that i know and place my confidence and hope in.
knowing what Jesus has done - taken away all the shame, guilt, depression, sadness, and we can begin the journey of gratitude and appreciation for Him, telling anyone who would listen who He is and the transformation of your life because of His love for us. to praise Him every moment we get because of how much He loves you and i. there should never be a day that we don’t sing worship to Him - telling Him how wonderful He is, how majestic He is, how beautiful He is, how much we have to be thankful because of Him. whether a few seconds, minutes, even hours, whatever length you feel, just make time to tell and demonstrate it to Him.
Father God, may i truly reflect of your beauty, the wonderful things around me, the time you have taken to love on me and my family. you did come for me Lord, to save me, to save us, from death. may your name and gratitude for you always be on my heart and lips. to you go all the glory, honor, and praise. in Jesus’ name i pray, amen!