Psalm 34:1
“I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Psalm 34:1)
In an intimate relationship of true love, expressions of love must be what the recipient perceives to be loving, not what the giver thinks the lover should want. How does one’s partner wish to be loved? The husband loves his wife so much he works 70-hour weeks to provide her every heart’s desire. But the lonely wife’s “heart’s desire” is to hear her strong and silent man say it. He demonstrates his love the only way he knows how, but his children gradually grow distant. They long for some of his time, some of him, you might say. So in your relationship with God, how would your Lover like you to express your affection to him? Oh, surely with a life that points people his direction and surely with Spirit-energized ministry. But it’s much more than being good and doing good. True lovers not only act out love, they say it. Often.
Have you noticed that children aren’t naturally thankful? They just expect their parents to be there for them, to provide all they need. And they certainly aren’t thankful for any discipline. We have to grow up to a love relationship with Jesus in which our heart constantly wells up in gratitude. Thankful for the big things, yes, and for the little things as well. And thankful, yes, even for the discipline. Did you notice that thanksgiving is me-oriented? We focus on what he has done for us. A great place to begin, but a very unsatisfactory place to end.
So there’s affirmation, praise, and adoration. Early in my ministry I hit a dry spell. Things were going well; I just didn’t have what it took to meet the challenges of my responsibilities no matter how hard I prayed. And I prayed hard! But my prayers didn’t seem to rise above the ceiling; the line to Headquarters was dead. Finally, I had a crazy idea—go outside and pray where there is no ceiling! But, as you guessed, the skies were brass, too. Suddenly the thought came, “Try praise!” I’m ashamed to admit it, but I was so out of practice on praise I ran out of subject-matter in five minutes! But that was enough. It seemed the reservoirs of heaven were un-stoppered!
I don’t suggest praise as a method to bend God’s ear to our petitions. No, but I do suggest praise as a wonderful way to connect and express our love, whether or not he ever answers another prayer. Praise for what he has accomplished, adoration for who he is.
Thanksgiving, praise, adoration—we call that kind of communication, “worship.” But he intends something beyond worship, something utterly astonishing: intimate companionship. That’s what I miss the most with my beloved Muriel – intimate companionship. I can still tell her thank you, praise her, and I do. But no companionship. Someone to share the good news with the bad. Someone to dance away the night with. Gone.
But our never absent, forever Lover always is waiting for us to embrace him in love. I recently reflected on the fact that when I rejoice with him, it’s over something he’s done for me, when I weep with him, it’s over some grief in my life. And I thought, “It gets old real quick when a friend forever dumps on me.” So I’ve begun to exult with Him in what brings him joy, whether or not it impacts me directly at the moment. Nature, for example, church, victories for righteousness. Rejoice with him, laugh with him!
And I try to weep with him over his griefs—the persecuted church, for example. How his heart must break as hundreds of thousands of Christian brothers are slaughtered, and in my own city, the hatred, the brokenness, the rotten infidelities, the oppression, the injustice, the cheating, all those things invisible to me or ho-hum, how painful to him. Or churches divided and impotent when he longs to build the invincible church. Weep with him!
Take a few minutes and note the categories of love-talk you might share with your ultimate Lover. Why not begin that conversation now?