“I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes it boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad.” ~Psalm 34:1-2
Father in Heaven, I will bless your name because you have so richly blessed me. Your word tells me that you have provided me with “every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Predestination. Regeneration. Propitiation. Expiation. Justification. Adoption. Sanctification. Glorification. No longer condemned, but set free in the Son. The list of spiritual blessings goes on and on and on, and every one is of pure grace.
I freely confess my unworthiness to serve as a recipient of your lavish grace. But then, Father, I suppose that the only one who qualifies for grace is the one who does not deserve it, and that you have chosen to glorify yourself by sending your Son to rescue such a sinner as I from the consequences of my sin.
Father, even if there had never been the cross, creation is enough to reveal your majesty and worthiness of receiving blessing and praise from all those whom you have made. Indeed, the splendor of the earth, sea and skies—the works of your hands—reveal your glory.
And yet, your greatest work was accomplished in Jesus, whose hands willingly received the nails in order that he might serve as the great substitute for sinners. Lord Jesus, how your praise should continually be in my heart and overflow from my lips. In worship. In conversation. In prayer.
However, Jesus, you know that your praise is not always in my mouth, and that the cause is a heart that grows cold to the glorious grace of your gospel. Rather than boasting in the cross and in who are as my Savior King, I find that my sinful nature longs to boast in and extol self. Not that I have anything to boast in. It just desires to boast in self; it craves the opportunity to be praised and honored and appreciated. How heinous is this corruption of the soul, and how it grieves me to recognize this sin that so deeply resides in my flesh.
So Holy Spirit, I pray for a genuine humility that is able to hear the good news—the news that proclaims that my Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, laid his life down for sheep like me. A sheep that is far more sinful than he is able to freely admit, but now, because of his substitute Shepherd, is more forgiven, loved and accepted than he could ever dare to dream. Spirit of God, help me to hear the words of the gospel that tell me: “God shows his love for me in that while I was a sinner, Christ died for me… In this is love, not that I loved God, but that he loved me and sent his Son to be the propitiation for my sins… He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
Let me be one of the humble glad. One of the loved and healed. Let me be glad to be a saved sinner so that my heart again will overflow with spontaneous praise to you, my Father and giver of every spiritual blessing in the Savior. Enable me to believe the gospel so that I might this day die to sin and live unto righteousness as I bless the Lord who saves me and sustains me by his grace.
