Psalm 66 is calling the whole earth to praise the Lord! Verse 1 says:
1MAKE A joyful noise unto God, all the earth;
A "joyful noise" is the Hebrew word, "ruwa`", which means: to shout, to raise a sound to cry out, to give a blast, to shout a war cry, to shout in triumph, to shout in applause, to shout for joy! That's a lot of shouting going on! Then verse 2 says this:
2Sing forth the honor and glory of His name; make His praise glorious!
We are to show forth the "honor" and glory of His Name and to make His praise "glorious". These two words are the same Hebrew word, "kabowd", which means: glory, honor, abundance, reverence, splendor, copiousness. The dictionary definition for "copiousness" is: profuse or exuberant in words, expression and style. Are you getting a picture of what this kind of praise and worship sounds like!? I think God wants to HEAR us, don't you? Look at verse 8:
8Bless our God, O peoples, give Him grateful thanks and make the voice of His praise be heard,
So let's be DOERS of this Psalm! If God wants to hear us, and He does, then we should make sure that He can! We should not let a single day go by without declaring the goodness of God and thanking and praising Him for all that He has done in our lives!
In Mark 10 we see the Pharisees again trying to trap Jesus. Won't they ever learn? He has always had an answer that leaves them speechless! Then we see the disciples trying to keep the children away from Jesus. Jesus is not one bit pleased with this! He says this:
14But when Jesus saw [it], He was indignant and pained and said to them, Allow the children to come to Me--do not forbid or prevent or hinder them--for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
And then He says this:
15Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive and accept and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child [does] positively shall not enter it at all.
"Like" a little child means in the same way that a child would! How does a child receive a gift, especially a very good gift? With joyful abandon! My grandchildren are always a joy to bless with gifts because they are so grateful and thankful for any gift! I will never forget the time one of my granddaughters was opening presents on her 4th birthday. One of her gifts had been wrapped in bubble wrap for safe-keeping during shipping. Her first words when she opened the present was "Bubble wrap! My favorite"! She was sincere! She loved popping bubble wrap and thought that was her actual gift! Do you receive the wonderful blessings in your life with such thankfulness and joy? We should, ALWAYS! That increases our capacity to receive more and to have the right heart to be a blessing to others!
In Leviticus 1-3 we see the instruction that the Lord gave to Moses about the sacrifices. It was a very blessed thing that the Israelites now had their God living among them and showing them how to properly approach Him in order to walk in the blessings that He desired for them to have. What WE should be getting out of this is a profound thankfulness that WE have a better covenant, based on better promises! Look at Hebrews 8:6:
6But as it now is, He [Christ] has acquired a [priestly] ministry which is as much superior and more excellent [than the old] as the covenant (the agreement) of which He is the Mediator (the Arbiter, Agent) is superior and more excellent, [because] it is enacted and rests upon more important (sublimer, higher, and nobler) promises.
Thank You, Lord Jesus, for paying the ultimate price so that WE can live now in this much better covenant with You! AMEN!
Be thankful for that every day!
Shalom in Him!
