Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, Lord. They rejoice in your name all day long; they celebrate your righteousness. For you are their glory and strength, and by your favor you exalt our horn. Psalm 89:15-17 NIV
The dictionary tells us in a nutshell what acclaiming means: to announce or proclaim with enthusiastic approval and to applaud. The Bible tells us in a nutshell what acclaiming God looks like and what happens because of it. “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you,” is a portion of Psalm 89:15 which points out that acclaiming God brings blessing. The word learned in this verse suggests that acclaiming God does not necessarily come naturally to us – evidently, we must learn how to make it part of our lifestyle.
If someone was asked to attest to our relationship with Jesus, would our words and actions speak for themselves, or would that person be forced to guess how serious we are about our faith? Is our love for and excitement about being a believer evident, or is it more of an implication we hope people catch? Does our life display a passion for Christ and a passion for seeking and fulfilling our God-given purpose, or is it something we hope others sense without having to be too forward?
Many of us do not hesitate to credit God for loving us beyond measure and for counting us as one of His cherished children. But do we openly acknowledge Him? Do we make an effort to tell others how great He is, and that He is directly responsible for the blessings in our lives? I do not think it is necessary or realistic to begin every single one of our sentences with phrases such as, “Let me tell you why God is so great,” or Thank God that He…” For most people, that would be a contrived, forced exchange. However, I bet we can agree that allowing His beloved name and our thankfulness for Him to become a natural component in the flow of our everyday discussions would potentially cause many in our circle to see Him in a different, positive light.
Maybe we are worried about being “that annoying Christian,” or “that Jesus freak,” who talks about Him entirely too much. But He created us, died for us, forgives us, desires a relationship with us, and makes it possible for us to spend eternity in Heaven with Him – do we honestly think we come close to talking about Him enough? Friends, do we acclaim Him? Should we not, as Christians, be intentionally seeking opportunities to acclaim the awesomeness of God?
Of course, the goal of acclaiming God is not to “get blessed.” The goal is to please God…and the bonus is that He blesses us.
I have added the word acclaim to my vocabulary. My aim now is to add it to my lifestyle.
