Everyday Praise: The Always There For You God
January 16, 2018
For 25 years I did not know God. He was not part of my life. I never even thought of Him. My understanding of God was like a lot of people: God was distant and out of touch, like an absentee landlord. But once I put my faith in Jesus Christ everything changed. I wasn’t just forgiven with my ticket punched on the eternal life express. No, all of a sudden I knew the Creator of the Universe as my heavenly Father. I knew He loved me and wanted only what was best for me. I knew He cared about everything in my life. This God, who I once thought was disinterested and out of touch, was simply there. He was with me, morning, noon and night. This knowledge of God’s presence did something to me. It didn’t just give me a peace and security. It gave me a confidence – an unshakable confidence that changed how I lived. I no longer wanted to live for myself. I’d been down that road. That road was a dead end street. Now I wanted to serve God. And the way I wanted to serve God was by helping others discover the God who had found me: This God of infinite grace; this God of truth and love; this God who was so awesome that I wanted to praise Him everyday and let the world know that God was alive and He was good.
You see, before coming to know God I would never thought of praising Him. Truth is, you can’t praise someone you don’t know. That’s why I am excited to have us return once again to Psalm 145. For its in the last few verses of this Psalm, David gives praise to the God who is always there for us, but in doing so He also shows us how we can experience God’s Presence in a very real way. You see, over the years, I’ve encountered a number of people who know a lot of facts about God, can sing the Hymns and choruses about God, say they love God, but they’ve never really experienced the intimate relationship David describes here. So, if you want to know God by more than Theology Book definitions; if you want the kind of relationship where you are filled with a great confidence; if you want to have the kind of relationship where you can’t help but praise Him everyday, then let me invite you to open your Bibles once again to Psalm 145:18-20, where we are going to meet this God who is always there for you, and see how we might unlock they keys to a tangible and fulfilling relationship with God that opens our hearts in praise.
So if you’ve found Psalm 145, we going to begin by looking at How God Is Always There For You: And the first truth we see is found in verse 18, where we learn that
He is always within earshot Listen to how David expresses this truth: The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
God is never far from us. He may at times seem distant, detached, disinterested in our little lives. But that is just not true. He is keenly aware of everything about you. In Psalm 139, David expands on God’s nearness and writes, You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Psalm 139:1-3 He may seem distant to us, but it’s we who distance ourselves from Him. But that doesn’t mean He is far from us. This verse tells us that He is the God of attentive ears. He is the God who’s ears are poised to listen to your voice. This is the God who would silence heaven just to hear you speak. You could even say, David describes for us “the mother’s ear of God.”
Do you remember what it was like to listen for the voice of your child? Your child playing with the neighbor kids, yelling and laughter, a din of childhood noise, but then a cry, and you instantly caught the cry of your child and went to her aid? Do you remember that? Well, that’s how God is with us. His ear is tuned into our cry. He can pick your voice out of the din of the universe. And when He hears it, He immediately comes to your aid. That’s the truth David captures here. David experienced God’s help over and over again. God responded to His cry. That’s the sensitivity of God’s ear to you. That’s why He is always there for us. His ears are attentive to our cry, attentive to the needs of our lives. And that makes Him praiseworthy. He is always within earshot. But He’s not just attentive to our cry, He’s also attentive to our hearts…
That’s what we see next in verse 19: He is always seeking your best David says, He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; He hears their cry and saves them. David says that God is always ready to satisfy the desires of those who fear him. The idea is one of goodwill. This is a core characteristic of God’s nature. This is what is seen in His name: “Yahweh.” Yahweh simply means: “He exists for the goodwill of His people.” Another way of saying it is that God is always seeking what is best for us. After all, He made us. He created us with deep passions: this longing to be known and loved – this desire to be heard and understood. He put in us our desire for life and significance. And He stands ready to satisfy those desires.
Here David reveals the Father-heart of God. God doesn’t just have His ears tuned toward us, but His heart is turned to us. He wants to be our hero. He is the creator of all good things. He created this world for us to enjoy. He gave us marriage so we wouldn’t be alone. He created your heart to find purpose and love. And now He’s seeking what is best for us, rooting for us, and helping us find life and significance in Him.
Again, think about your children. One of my greatest joys as a parent when my girls were growing up was discovering what gives them joy. For Kayla, it was always taking the time to let her talk and express herself, or to give her opportunities to experience new things. When she was in elementary school, it was learning to play the violin or flute. In High School, it was letting her take her summers to serve at camp. For Courtney, it was always just being present with her. She just loved doing stuff with her dad, whether we played badminton, watched a Disney movie or I rode my bike with her while she rode her scooter. In High School, it was helping with her swim meets, watching her show Choir performances, or just helping her do her homework. In seeking their best my job was to know their hearts and encourage them as they learned about life. It was being a hero for my daughters. All I know is that I’m not a perfect father, but God is. He knows your heart. He knows what makes you tick. And He’s attentive to the cries of your heart. He’s always seeking your best. And that makes Him praiseworthy indeed.
He’s always within earshot. He’s always seeking your best. And finally, in verse 20, David tells us: He is always looking out for you The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
The eyes of God are upon us – not to see if we do something wrong so He can scold us, but to see how we’re doing so He can help us. He watches over us like a gardener tending his garden. I get this one, because I’ve always been a gardener. In Oregon, where I grew up you can grow great gardens. But the key to being a good gardener is paying constant attention to the state of your plants. Sometimes they need watering, sometimes feeding, and always weeding. That’s what God does with us.
God watches over us with a tender nurturing care. And our God is a diligent watcher. Listen to this description of Him from Psalm 121; He will not let your foot slip—
He who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, He who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
He will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore. Psalm 121:3-8
God is always there for us watching over us, even in our sleep. He’s always looking out for our best interests. He’s always watching to protect us. I don’t know about you, but knowing this about my God gives me comfort. It helps me to realize I have nothing to fear and I’ll never be alone. The eyes of God are on me to prosper me and not to harm me. That’s good news.
God pays close attention to your life so He can strongly support you, feed you, heal you, and help you become the person He created you to be. The Lord is near. He watches over all who love Him. That’s the always there for you God.
God is always there for you – to hear your cry
God is always there for you – to satisfy your longings
God is always there for you – to watch over you so He can care for you
But the sad reality is that most of us rarely experience this intimate caring love of God. What I’ve just shared here sounds great. Most of us wish we could know God this way, but for many, your experience tells you that God just hasn’t been there for you like this.
And if you’re like me, you’re wondering if such an intimate relationship with God is really attainable. Is there a way I can tangibly experience the always there for you God? And I would say yes, because David tells us how we can know God’s undivided attention for us everyday.
You see, attached to each one of these truths about God’s presence in our lives is our part of the equation. After all, a relationship with God is like any other relationship. It takes two to tango. So, lets take a second look at each of these verses to see How We Can Know His Undivided Attention Everyday: To see what we need to bring to the table that will help us experience His tangible presence daily. And the first thing we bring to the table is our faith in God expressed in prayerful dependence.
In other words, if we really want to know the Always There For You God, we must
Walk in prayerful dependence with Him Look closely with me at verse 18: The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.
Those who know the always there for you God, believe in who God says He is. They believe what God’s truth says about God. They believe He is the Creator. That everything exists because He brought it into existence. They believe their very life is in the palm of God’s hand, because they believe that they themselves are fearfully and wonderfully made. They believe His is the Almighty King. That He is Sovereign over all the earth, over all the powers, over everything that takes place. They believe God is in control even when everything seems to be spinning out of control. And they believe He is Good. That He truly is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. You see the most important part of our relationship with God rises and falls right here. When you know God is great, when you believe God is good, THEN YOU TRUST HIM WITH YOUR LIFE. And when you trust Him with your life, you will walk in prayerful dependence with Him, and you will bring Him glory.
And you will do something else when you do this: Every time you call on Him in truth, you give God glory precisely because you are allowing God to be God – you are declaring that He is good and able to help you in whatever you are facing. But if you don’t pray; and you try and work your own way trough our troubles, then you never give God the opportunity to show Himself great.
Its no wonder most people never really experience the nearness of God. Its because we live like practical atheists. We say we believe God can help us, but then we don’t ask for His help. We simply try to make things happen in our own strength. As John Piper has written, “A prayerless Christian is like a bus driver trying alone to push his bus out of a rut because he doesn’t know Clark Kent is on board.” Yet, it is God who tells us: “Call on me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you and you will honor me.” Psalm 50:15
You want to know God’s presence in your life? Then call on Him in truth. Believe who He says He is. Quit trying to work everything out on your own and let God work. Trust Him to BE who HE IS: Our Great and Good God who is seeking your best. Become a person of prayer. Walk in prayerful dependence with Him who is able.
That’s the first thing we get to bring to our relationship with God. Now the second, Give Him the Reverence Due His Name Look again at verse 19: He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; He hears their cry and saves them.
To fear God means to give Him the respect due His being. This is hard for us in a day where there we’ve lost much of the meaning of respect. The people we’ve traditionally given respect: Presidents, Prime Minsters, Police Officers and Firefighters, are rarely given the respect they deserve. One thing I love here at the Ranch is that Veterans are given respect. They are honored and thanked. That’s good. But what about the respect due God? Do we really fear Him? Do see Him as awesome, infinite, dwelling in unapproachable light? Have we made Him too safe? Too friendly? Too weak?
I believe we need to recapture a sense of holy awe as seen in Hezekiah’s response to seeing the Lord God in the Temple in Isaiah 6:1-8 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above Him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
That’s the reverence, the respect, the esteem due God’s being. This is the God who is worthy of our praise. To those who fear Him, He promises to satisfy our deepest desires. For when we give Him the attention He deserves, we honor Him.
You want to experience God’s presence in your life? Give Him the respect due His name. Honor Him in your marriage, in your friendships, in your business dealings. Give Him praise for there is no one greater, holier, or more deserving then our Lord God Almighty. Let us renew respect in our land by giving God the respect due His name. That’s the second way we can draw close to God and know His presence.
Now the final way: Pursue Him With a Passionate Love David says it in verse 20: The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked He will destroy. You want to experience God’s protective, diligent watchful care over you? Then open your heart to Him. Pursue God with a passionate love – a romantic love. That’s the picture here. It’s the kind of love that’s expressed by a strong desire to be with the one you love.
You want to experience God’s presence daily? Pursue Him, seek Him, open your heart to Him. Find out what pleases Him. Spend time with Him. At one time you did this with your spouse to win her over. Why? So you she might agree to be with you and enjoy life with you always. And this is what God did with you. He pursued you and loved through His Son, Jesus Christ. He gave His best for you. He sacrificed His all for you. So you could be with Him.
When was the last time you just took and hour or two hours just to sit with God’s Word, listen to His voice, give praise to Him for His love, His greatness, His glory? What if we did more of this?
Last week, I gave you an assignment, to “breath praise” throughout your day. I tried doing this all week. I started out by choosing a praise from Psalm 145, posted it on Twitter and Facebook, and then tried to repeat it throughout the day. On Thursday in the middle of the golf tournament, I was using this praise from Psalm 145: “My God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.” Every time I was a bit frustrated with my game, I would say this praise. And you know what? It gave me perspective. I wanted to be like God, “slow to anger.” And then it was just easy to sluff off a pour shot.
But we need to do more than an occasional breath praise. I don’t’ know about you, but I want my heart to overflow with praise. Why?
For He is the always there for you God.
He draws near to all who call on Him in truth.
He satisfies the desires of those who fear Him.
He watches over all who love Him.
He’s always near.
Perhaps its time we drew near to Him. You want to know this God of intimate love? You want to walk with Him and know His presence? You want a life full of joy without a care in the world? The Bible says, “Come near to God and He will come near to you.” James 4:8
Maybe its time to chase hard after God… and give Him our best, our love, and our all. For He is worthy.
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